


Space for Love

by fangirl5



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Space, Asexual Character, Asexual Kara Danvers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Humor, Lesbians in Space, Mutual Pining, Supercorp and AgentReign go to Mars!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27864346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl5/pseuds/fangirl5
Summary: Astronauts Kara and Alex Danvers, Lena Luthor and Sam Arias have trained their whole lives to be the first humans on Mars. They know their chances to be on the mission are pretty good. What they don't know is that more than one of their dreams are going to come true.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers & Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers & Maggie Sawyer, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias & Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers
Comments: 20
Kudos: 213





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Do you remember the title of that article, "Mars missions may be all-female to avoid astronauts having sex during 1.5-year journey"?? (https://tribune.com.pk/story/1519454/mars-missions-may-female-avoid-astronauts-sex-1-5-year-journey)  
> Well, I’ve wanted to make a fanfic out of it ever since I read it. So here it is!

**T-minus 450 days to launch**

Every astronaut of that generation had the same dream since they could remember: going to Mars. A dream that became a goal and later a real mission. A mission that the eight women in the room really wanted to be a part of.

At that particular moment, Kara just wanted to go home and sleep for a week. Not that she could, but still. She was exhausted after that day's training. That's why she was a little startled when Lena entered the room practically screaming at them.

“Did you hear?! They want an all-female crew to avoid astronauts having sex.” Lena was obviously thrilled about this, but rolled her eyes as she said her next words, “The guys are already throwing a tantrum, as if every Moon-crew wasn’t an all-male crew.” 

Now, bear in mind that Kara Danvers was an asexual woman. She didn’t feel the same sexual desire that most people seemed to feel. So when she said that whenever Lena Luthor entered a room her whole body lit up, it wasn’t exactly in the way you’re probably thinking. She was just so very _beautiful_. In fact, she was beautiful to the point that Kara still couldn’t manage to talk to her unless it was about something strictly work-related. She was an asexual woman, but she was also a panromantic mess.

Alex Danvers, on the other hand, was a lesbian and always seemed to be in perfect control around Lena. Kara didn’t know how her sister did it, and she was a bit jealous of their easy friendship. So it was Alex who raised her eyebrows at what Lena had said and smirked, “Wait, is it really so we don’t have sex there? Is the lack of men supposed to stop me?”.

Everyone laughed while Susan Vasquez high-fived her. “If anything, you and I would have more chances of getting laid without men up there.”

Sam laughed with everyone else, but then, in a more serious tone, she added, “I think it’s so no one gets pregnant by accident. In any case, isn’t the mission supposed to last like 2 years at most? Are men really unable to control themselves? Because it’s been way longer than that since I’ve had sex and I’m doing fine.”

Lena smiled at her and patted her head, “That’s because you don’t have any free time between this and your daughter, darling.”

Sam batted Lena’s hand away as she answered, “And that’s because I want to. Isn’t it really complicated to have sex in Zero-G, anyway? Have any of you ever tried?”

They all looked at each other shaking their heads until Vasquez replied, “No, but anyway, I’m not going to complain about any reason or excuse they have to send an all-women crew.”

Kara was finishing packing her stuff, only half interested in the conversation. “Well, I for one think this excuse it’s great. It means I’ve got more chances to go, right? What’s better than sending an asexual person if they don’t want people having sex. Ace in space for the win!” She started to leave while sing-songing, “Ace in space! Ace in space!”. 

“God! She sings that every time we go on a mission. We’re going to hear that every day if she gets to go, right?” Alex face-palmed, frustrated with her sister already.

“Well, she’s your sister, Danvers, you’re going to have to put up with her.” Lena joked.

“Nope, no. If we all go, as your superior in rank my first order will be to have you on Kara duty, Luthor.”

As if Lena would mind.

Sam rolled her eyes at them. Sure, it was cute and funny the first few times, but they always did this. “Oh please, like you could stay away from your sister, you love the dork.” She picked up her stuff and left, everyone laughed and followed.

With an all-women crew, Alex and Kara were definitely in. Lena surely was, too. She was a genius and you needed a genius on a mission like that one. Every other woman there, even the ones that weren’t part of that day’s group, had a chance to make it. So they would have to give their all if they wanted to be one of the six. To do that, they spent the next few months working hard, with the girls joking around before and after training, and the guys upset but slowly starting to accept their new roles. 

**T-minus 385 days to launch**

Kara was visibly trying not to pace around the room. Lucy stopped her leg from moving. “Kara, just stop, it’s obvious you’re going. There’s no one better than you and your sister to lead this mission.”

They didn’t usually let family members go together on missions, but the Danvers Sisters had been a package deal since Kara’s first mission. When Alex stormed into J’onn’s office and told him, “We work better together, sir. Everyone can attest to that. I understand it if you have any other reason not to send either of us, but if her adoption papers are the only thing keeping her out of this mission, please reconsider and let her go, or I could just tear the damn papers, she won’t stop being my sister anyway.” 

Alex and Kara made an excellent team, no one could argue with that. Out in space their team dynamic was even better than on Earth.

J’onn entered the room and looked at the 20 expectant women. “Hello, as you all know, the first human mission to Mars is going to have six of you. Getting there is going to take 179 days, you’ll spend 3 months there and you’ll be back home 210 days after that. Now, the brave astronauts that are going to Mars for the first time ever are: Commander Alex Danvers, Second in Command Kara Danvers, Pilot Nia Nal, Flight Engineer Lena Luthor, Mission Specialist Sam Arias and Docking Pilot Maggie Sawyer. Congratulations, ladies.” Everyone was cheering and congratulating people. 

Alex definitely didn’t pay much attention to any other name after her sister’s, so it wasn’t until Kara stepped away from their hug that it registered in her brain. She froze. “Did he just say Maggie?” No. It couldn't be. Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder.

“Congratulations, Danvers.” Alex turned around only to be dazzled by Maggie’s smile. She hadn't seen her smile like that in a long time. It still took her breath away, that smile. She literally felt as if she couldn't breathe. Or maybe she was still in shock because her ex was going to be living in a small space with her for a whole year and a half. Alex saw Maggie retrieving her hand, which snapped her out of it. She was expecting a handshake and Alex hadn’t even noticed. Great, she managed to make it awkward and they hadn’t even launched yet. Maggie’s dimples disappeared and Alex missed them immediately. “Sorry, I just thought—”

“No no, I’m sorry, I didn’t... I just—” Alexandra Danvers, everyone, the Commander of the first human mission to Mars, but she couldn’t talk to a pretty girl. No, not any pretty girl, _her ex_ , a member of her crew. She composed herself. Offered her own hand this time. “Let’s do this again. Thank you, Sawyer, congratulations to you too.”

Maggie’s smile was smaller that time, but still there. They shook hands until Lucy Lane jumped to Maggie’s back yelling, “Congrats, you two!”, and Nia was approaching Alex, so that was the end of that exchange.

\---

That night, they went to have drinks to celebrate. Some of them were dancing. Some were playing pool with Maggie and Nia.  
Kara was sitting next to Alex in a booth, they had Sam and Lena in front of them. 

“Are we not going to talk about the huge elephant in the room?” Sam finally asked after her second margarita.

“Don’t you mean the small latina that’ll be in the spaceship?” Lena replied with a smirk. Sam laughed, Kara swore she tried not to, but the alcohol was apparently very effective.

Alex groaned. “No, we’re not talking about this.”

It was Kara who insisted, “Come on, Alex, you need to let it all out and start to make peace with the fact that she’s going to be part of our crew.”

“I know, I just—” Alex began and stopped herself, sighing.

Lena saw her eyes, and she recognized that expression. Alex was too similar to her in many aspects and this was just one of them, “I’ll bring you a scotch, Danvers, start talking.”

Alex suddenly could breathe again, she smiled softly at Lena. She was thankful for the day Sam had introduced them. She addressed the other two, “It’s been five months, guys, I’m over her.” And she was. She was completely over Maggie Sawyer. So what if she hadn’t dated anyone else since? As far as she knew, Maggie hadn’t either. So what if they broke up while still madly in love with each other? They were not compatible, she wanted to have children one day, no matter how much she had also wanted Maggie.

“Should I remind you that you’ve been avoiding her as much as you could? That does not sound like—” 

Alex quickly interrupted Sam, “We needed a clean break and that’s what we got, that’s it.”

They kept talking and Kara _was_ listening to the conversation. She was. But she could also probably tell you exactly how long it took Lena to get to the bar, and the way she smiled at the bartender when she ordered — even if she couldn’t really see her face.

When Lena came back, Alex was quick to thank her, take the scotch and drink. “Look, I loved Maggie, and a part of me will always love her. She was my first real love, you know how that is. But I'm not in love with her anymore. I'm not. Time did help and I really hope we'll get to have a good mission together and maybe, who knows, maybe we'll get to be friends.”

Kara was side-hugging her by the time she was finished. Sam was studying her face and probably her whole body language to see if she was lying. Lena simply smiled at her and said, “Well, you wouldn't be a good lesbian if you weren't friends with your ex.” effectively easing the tension. Lena was good at that, she had to learn it at a very young age to keep herself mostly sane.

Lena noticed Kara was falling asleep by the time they finished another round, but Alex was finally letting loose and wanted to dance. The sisters lived together so they had come together. “Sam, go have fun with Alex. She needs it, and make sure she gets home safe.” Lena then placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder to get her attention. “Come on, Kara, I’ll take you home.”

\---

Kara had never been alone with Lena socially, and even while training there were very few times they had to be alone. Kara remembered those times very well, those were the same few times she had made a lot of mistakes on the job. If anyone asked, it was purely a coincidence. 

They walked towards the car quietly. Once inside, Kara needed to fill the silence with anything. “Um, thanks. For the ride, I mean. I didn’t want Alex to have to leave because I wanted to, so thank you, um, for noticing that too.”

“Of course.” Of course she would give her a ride. Of course she also wanted Alex to stay. Of course she noticed Kara, she’d always had. Lena always wanted to get close to her but she always seemed out of her reach. “So, how excited are you, Miss Second In Command?”

Kara’s whole face lit up. Having Lena teasing her like that, the same way she did with Alex or Sam, felt too good. Even though her brain stopped working because of it, she could talk about _this_ without her nerves getting in the way, “Gosh, I’m so excited! We’re going to Mars, Lena, _Mars_!” Lena laughed, delighted with her enthusiasm, “And I’m going with my sister! I couldn’t ask for anything better, honestly. It still doesn’t feel real, though, you know? Like I might wake up tomorrow and this day never actually happened or something.”

“I know. It’s a dream come true and I don’t think I’ll fully believe it at least until launch day. And I understand what you mean about your sister, I get to go with my best friends and I think that’s the best part of all of this.” Her best friends and the girl she’d been crushing on since the program started, but she was not going to dwell on that while the girl in question was sitting right next to her. “It’s crazy about Maggie, though. How do you really think Alex is going to handle that?”

“I honestly don’t know. She’s a professional, they both are, but I don’t think they’re over each other. The fact that there’s going to be only six of us in one place for that long...”

“You think they’re going to get back together?”

“Well, it’s not like Alex is going to have kids before she gets back, so… yeah, I think they might.” Kara sounded sad about that prospect.

“You’re worried about her.”

Kara snapped her head to her side and blinked at her. Lena wasn’t even looking at her and she was still able to notice things most people didn’t. This new fact that Kara was learning about Lena made her crush grow a lot. She was insightful and thoughtful and Kara was not ready for this. “Um, yeah... I am.” She'd done a good job talking before when she was watching the road. Still, taking her eyes off Lena wasn't an option anymore. This was about Alex. She could do it. “It’s just— She was so heartbroken when they broke it off, I don’t want her to go through that again.”

“Well, we still have a year before it’s just us. They still have time to move on. And Alex is smart. As long as the reason they ended things is still there, I don’t think she’ll allow herself to do it again.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Lena smirked and for a brief moment she turned her head towards Kara, “I think you’ll find I mostly am.”

She said it with the same teasing tone she used before, but this time Kara could also see the twinkle in her eyes that came with it. Naturally, she almost jumped off the moving car to avoid an awkward laugh or incoherent response. She didn’t do either thanks to Lena turning the music on. 

“Oh my God, I love this song!” Kara couldn’t believe _‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’_ was playing.

“Alex might have mentioned once or twice your love for N*SYNC when she heard me talking about them”

“What?! Did you like them too?” Kara seemed as excited about this as she was about going to Mars.

Lena laughed, “Liked them? I’m a fan. What’s your favorite song?”

They spent the rest of the ride fangirling about the band and other 90’s music. When they arrived, Kara thanked her again and entered her building. She noticed that Lena didn’t leave until she was safe inside and it was just another new thing to like about the woman. Once she was alone she let herself think that she was completely doomed. How was she supposed to live for four hundred and seventy-nine days with Lena Luthor looking like she did and being the way she was and not fall in love with her?

**T-minus 284 days to launch**

Kara and Lena were getting closer with each passing training day. With each weekly night out like that one. It was supposed to be a team activity to unwind and bond. But it usually went like this: Maggie and Nia would be playing darts — they had a little competition going — and Sam would be trying to win against Alex at pool, which left Kara and Lena at their table talking about anything and everything. 

But that particular night Sam was tired so Alex had dragged Kara to play with her. Lena and Sam stayed and talked about trivial things and about Ruby. After a comfortable short pause Sam smiled, “I know I see you every day, but I’ve missed you. Why do I feel like we haven’t talked in ages?”

“Maybe because we haven’t. You’re always too eager to have a moment alone with Alex.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve been hating every single second of your time with Kara... Last week you didn’t even realize we were all gone!”

“Hey! I did realize! I just, maybe, didn’t care enough.”

“A-ha! So you admit it!”

“That I like spending time with my friend? Sure.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

“What I _know_ is that you’re trying to avoid talking about Alex.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Sam.”

“Lena.”

“They’ve been broken up for a while now.”

“That doesn’t— that’s not…” Sam looked into Lena’s eyes, there was no judgement there, no pressure for her to continue talking, there was nothing but understanding. She sighed. “Why complicate things? If she wanted to be with me — which I really don’t think so — it would be asking a lot of the relationship to be moving in together _in space_ , with four other people, with nowhere to run... What if we broke up in the middle of the trip?”

“You’re both very professional people, Sam, and there will be a few places to be alone. You’re just making up excuses.”

“I’m not—”

“This isn’t new, darling. You’ve had other chances to tell her about your feelings throughout all these years and you _always_ find a perfectly good excuse not to.”

“Are you gonna tell Kara?”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that.”

Lena took a sip of her drink and stole a glance at Kara, hoping the glass would hide her blush.

When everyone went home, Lena and Kara stayed for one more round, claiming they weren’t tired just yet. They were both exhausted but no one needed to know that. They drank, they talked, they laughed and it was _easy_. It always felt so easy with Kara. Lena was finally relaxed after a really long week and it wasn’t the alcohol that helped her with that. 

**T-minus 95 days to launch**

The media was loving the story and all the gossip and rumors about them and their mission. They gave interviews and all of them were asked the same annoying question: “How do you feel about the fact that you get to go only because you’re a woman and won’t have sex up there?” Their answer was rehearsed but it was still true. They explained that that was definitely not why they had been chosen, and that they believed in their training and in the abilities of the entire crew. 

Nia publicly came out because she thought trans kids needed to know they could also do this if they wanted to. That inspired Kara, who then went on record saying she wasn’t even having sex on Earth. Suffice it to say, they both got some backlash from haters who believed Nia shouldn’t be allowed in an all-female crew and from trolls who said Kara was pretending just to be able to go to Mars. But it was nothing they weren’t expecting so they focused on the positive comments. Some magazines tried to find Ruby’s father, and some reporters got really close to disclosing Maggie and Alex’s previous relationship, but NASA could kill a story when they really wanted to. The articles about Lena, well, they were still about her family drama, and for once she was mostly happy about it, she didn’t want them to be sticking their noses on her personal life — not that she had things to hide anyway.

Mostly, though. Because they were speculating new things about Lillian that didn’t sit right with her.

So Lena closed the magazine, drank her whiskey and curled up on the couch. That’s how Kara found her. “I take it you read it?”

“Yeah, but it's nothing new.”

Kara started pacing. “That’s the thing, there should be. That whole article should be about you! Not only are you going to Mars, Lena, but you’re also a genius and most of this mission wouldn’t be possible without you! For starters, we certainly wouldn’t be getting there in only six months and th—” 

“Kara, it’s okay. Come sit with me?” Watching Kara this riled up because of this was as heartwarming as it could get for Lena.

Kara complied. “I’m sorry. It’s just not fair.”

“I know. But I really don’t mind. Yes, I’ll admit it sucks that they can’t get past the Luthor family drama, but it’s what sells. I get it. What they wrote about my mother, though… she’s not a bad person. I mean, she’s not great, but I know she wasn’t in on Lex’s plan.”

“I know.” Kara got closer and took her hand. Lena looked at her then, wondering how one person could look so open, so ready to listen without judgement, so ready to catch whatever she’d throw at her.

“She wasn’t a good mother, not to me anyway. I really think she didn’t know better. Maybe it was because I wasn’t her daughter so she could never have cared for me the way she did for Lex. Or maybe she always knew I could be better than Lex at pretty much everything and thought she needed to push me harder and demand more of me. Either way, she never did anything with malice and she is the only mother I can remember so...”

“So you love her. Of course you do, Lena, it’s not a bad thing.”

“I know, it still hurts that she lets them speculate like this… It hurts that she still hasn’t acknowledged the fact that I’m going to fucking Mars because her precious Lex doesn’t want to stay in prison where he belongs.”

“She’ll come around. Same blood or not, she’s still your mom, Lena. I’m sure she loves you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because it’s impossible to know you and not love you.”

Even though Lena knew she meant it in the friendliest way possible, those words still warmed her heart. She silently thanked Lillian for teaching her how to control her emotions because she didn’t want to cry at that moment. She showed her a small smile instead and Kara squeezed her hand in response, which gave her the confidence to confess one more thing, “I’m always scared I’ll turn into her, or worse, into him. I don’t know if I’d have the strength to fight the darkness if it wasn’t for Sam, Alex and you.”

“I think you would. You’re one of the strongest people I know. But the good thing is you don’t ever have to find out. That’s what friends are for, we get each other through the dark times.”

Kara hugged her and Lena might have shed a tear or two, which was totally fine as long as she was in the other woman’s arms.

**T-minus 5 days to launch**

Lena walked up to Kara after everyone else left. “Hey, I have something for you.”

“Me? Really?”

She took something out of her backpack and handed it to Kara, “I saw this t-shirt online and knew you just had to have it and use it up there.”

The t-shirt in question read, _‘I put the ace in space’_ and Kara lost it, she laughed until she couldn’t breathe and then, “Oh my God, Lena, this is amazing!” Kara threw her arms around her.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? I love it! Lena, I don’t... this—” Kara was suddenly speechless. How? How could she explain that this meant more to her than just a thoughtful funny gift? This felt like being accepted. She often thought that people tended to ignore that part of her life, it was not really something they talked about beyond a few questions when they were trying to understand. Either they acted like she was broken or they acted like it wasn’t a part of her. But it was, and _Lena_ of all people giving this to her, having a laugh with her about it like she did with Alex about her gayness… it made her feel more normal than she’d ever felt before. And she always wanted to feel normal. However, with this gift not only did she feel normal, she also felt special because Lena Luthor thought of her. “It— It’s everything. Thank you.” 

Another hug. But this one felt different. The first one had been short, full of happiness and Lena had understood that Kara was trying to show gratitude through it. This one was intimate, Lena could not really pinpoint exactly what it was trying to say, but she felt it anyway. And she returned it with her own meaning. She said _‘you’re welcome’_ through it, she said _‘you deserve an amazing gift because you’re amazing’_ , and a few other things she didn’t even want to think about. She could only hope that Kara could hear the words she was trying to convey.

**T-minus 10 hours to launch**

The whole day everything had been a very organized chaos around them. Sam’s daughter, Ruby, was the only family member allowed to be in there with them. 

The girl said goodbye to Maggie, Nia and Kara, then turned to Lena.

“Bye, aunt Lena.” she hugged her tight and whispered in her ear. ”Bring her home.”

“I promise, darling. I love you. Don’t grow up too much.”

As soon as she left Lena’s arms, she was in Alex’s, she didn’t even see the woman coming. “Take care, kid. Love you.“

Again, she whispered, “Take care of them, Alex.”

“Always.”

Finally, there was Sam. “I’m so proud of you, mom.”

“Oh, please don’t make me cry. I’m proud of you. I’m gonna miss you so much.”

“We’re gonna talk any chance you get, mom. Please, I told you a million times, I know you want to stay with me and I know you love me. I asked you to go. Go be a hero, I’ll be fine with Eliza.” Sam’s mom threw her out of the house when she found out she was pregnant with Ruby at sixteen. Lena became her family then, and Alex came next. Once she met Alex’s mom, Eliza, the woman took it upon herself to be like a mother to her, and a grandmother to Ruby.

Of course Sam started crying and hugged her daughter tight. “I love you so much, Ruby.”

“I love you too, mom.” They were going to spend almost two years without hugging each other, so they planned to stay like that for as long as they could.

All the other women were watching the interaction with tears in their eyes.

“Okay, Reign, time to suit up.” Reign was Sam’s call sign, she didn’t really like it, but she appreciated what Alex was trying to do. She needed to distance herself from this situation, to think about the job and not the fact that she wasn’t going to see her daughter for a very long time. “Ruby, give my mom hell” she winked and everyone laughed effectively cutting the tension in the room.

Hours later — that actually felt like days — they were finally inside the capsule, with still an eternity to go before launch. They just had to wait for their orders now. Alex was anxious and just basically a bundle of nerves, so she decided to break the ice a little, “So, ladies, I hope you had sex last night because it’ll be a long time before you can do it again according to the press.”

They all laughed, and Lena replied, “You do remember we’re on a live stream that probably the whole planet is watching, right Commander Danvers?”

“I’m just giving the people what they want, Luthor.”

Alex, Lena and Maggie did not have call signs, so they mostly went by their last names while working, and often when they weren’t. Nia, Kara and Sam only let people use theirs when they were on missions. 

A long while later, the checklist was checked, everything was ready and they were getting the countdown from Houston.

Nobody in the world cared if Supergirl suddenly shouting, “We’re going to Mars, people!” was a bit unprofessional. 

Three.

Two.

One.

They were off.

Lena was never going to get used to the feeling of take-off, no matter how many times she’d done it for real and in simulators. Her problem wasn’t the fact that she could die, she double-checked everything herself. She knew everything was working perfectly fine. No, the problem for her was how violent it was at first, how it was hard to focus on the tasks, the amount of pressure on her chest, she hated it all.

But soon enough, the feeling was gone, and so was gravity.

“Dreamer?”

Nia touched a few buttons. “Done.”

“Luthor?”

“Everything okay, Danvers.”

“Supergirl?”

“Aye, Captain”

“Sawyer?”

“Looking good, Danvers.”

“Reign?”

“All clear.”

Everything had gone exactly according to plan. Alex reported to Houston, and just like that, they were on their way to Mars.

A few hours later they were docked to the main spacecraft that had been built for them in space. The ship could be bigger, sure, but it was okay for the six of them. Besides the control capsule, each of them had one sleeping pod, they had one bathroom, two of each exercise equipment, a small lab, and they even had a kitchen-dining area to eat all at the same time in the same place if they wanted to. There were also a couple of nooks with small windows. They had everything they needed and they had each other. They would be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fanart (https://trappedinvacancy.tumblr.com/post/162011103922/happy-pride-month-based-on-this-post-by) was probably the reason behind the t-shirt idea. Because it's always on my mind. One of my favorites <3
> 
> A billion thanks to Ta, Cami and Fi. This fic (and my life) would not be the same without you.
> 
> [My tumblr.](https://fuckyeahimafangirl.tumblr.com)


	2. Chapter 2

**Day 6**

The first few days they had been live-streaming constantly and they were all very aware of it. Then they had to send videos pretty regularly, but just what they wanted to share with the public. So it wasn’t until day five, when the live-cameras were finally off, that they began to relax and let everything sink in. There was not a lot of work to do besides making sure they were still on course.

They formed a routine pretty quickly. They had most things on a schedule — they needed it not to lose track of time. They all woke up within the same hour, and had breakfast. Alex checked in with Houston and then went to exercise with Kara. Lena and Sam were after them, and then came Maggie and Nia. Afterwards they had lunch. Some went to work in the lab, others to check things or report to Earth once again before having some dinner. Then they were free to do whatever they wanted for a couple of hours until it was time to sleep.

When Lena went to have lunch on day six, she floated right in the middle of an argument.

“I’m over it, Kara.”

Lena saw Kara was ready to continue, so she decided to intervene, “Something I should know?”

Alex shook her head, at the same time that Kara said, “She’s avoiding Maggie.”

“Kara.” Alex warned.

“Stop it, both of you. Alex, I’m sure she’s just trying to help. Kara, give your sister a break, she’ll talk to Maggie when she’s ready. Plus, she’s smart, she knows they have to talk if this is to be a smooth trip and a good working environment for everyone.” 

“I know what you’re doing, Luthor.”

“Woman up, Danvers.”

“Where’s Sam? I need someone on my side.”

“Talking to Ruby, but she’d be telling you the same thing, you know?”

Alex rolled her eyes. “I'll talk to her.”

“Of course, when Lena says it…”

Lena placed a hand on her shoulder, “Just take the win, Kara.”

Alex ended up making food for two and leaving to find Maggie.

“Hungry, Sawyer?” 

Maggie grabbed the food Alex had just pushed towards her, “Yeah, thanks, I was about to go there.”

“Well, apparently we need to talk so I figured we could eat without the rest of them.”

“Why does it sound like you're being forced to do this?”

“Because I kinda am. It’s not… It's just that I don't really know what to say.”

“Look, Danvers, this is ridiculous. Do you have a problem with me being here?”

“What? No, Maggie, of course not!” Alex almost pushed herself a little too hard, she had to hold on to Maggie, who had just extended her arms to help steady her.

“Easy there.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’ve been so nervous. I just want us to be okay.”

“Well, I told you once that I didn't want to imagine my life without you in it. That's still true, even more so now than it was back then. So maybe we should try to give our friendship a real shot.”

“I’d like that.”

Maggie smiled, her dimples in full display, “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” They pulled themselves into each other’s arms and hugged.

**Day 7**

Kara found Lena looking at the Earth and the Moon from one of the windows.

Lena saw her coming out of the corner of her eye. “Look at that. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this view.”

“Me neither.” Kara meant to say it about the view of the Earth and its moon together from so far away. But then again, that other view right there? Lena curled up next to a wall contemplating her planet was new and absolutely breathtaking. And when Lena finally turned her head to look at her, Kara felt that Earth had nothing against Lena’s eyes.

By that point, Kara was used to being alone with Lena, they were friends, best friends even. But that did not mean that every once in a while there weren't these little moments full of intensity, full of _something else_ that left Kara feeling like the tongue-tied girl with a crush she was over a year ago. It wasn’t until Lena raised an eyebrow that Kara realized she’d been just gazing at her, and she didn’t care to find out for how long. “Um… Sam was looking for you, I— I think Ruby wants to talk to you.”

**Day 22**

Sam thought she had things under control. She was a good mother and had the best daughter. She was an amazing astronaut, she had friends and a found family. Things were going great on their mission to Mars. Everything was under control.

It wasn't like she was wrong. It was just that it’d been twenty-two days in a small place with Alex and she was starting to lose her head.

Alex Danvers was driving her insane.

She was doing a spacewalk and Alex was talking in her ear — granted, through the comms, still had an effect though — when she heard, “God, Sam, how are you so good with your hands?”

Sure. Alex was talking about her steady hands working incredibly well on the spacecraft during a spacewalk. Still... There was a lot to unpack there.

Alex _never_ called her Sam when they were on the job.

The way she breathed through that ‘God’. Her tone. Her freaking _teasing_ tone. Sam just knew Alex was smirking. _Smirking_ , the audacity of that woman! 

Did Sam mention Lena and Nia were also listening? And that they _saw_ her losing balance and beginning to spin without meaning to? Lena had to help her stop. She wanted to detach herself from the spaceship and float right into the sun. She was never going to live this down.

Yes, Sam had started flirting a few days ago. Sure, they were best friends and they’d teased each other before. But now they were both single and they were living together. It felt different. It _was_ different. Also, when she started it she didn’t think Alex would start responding to it.

She couldn’t possibly like her back, could she?

Yeah, Alex Danvers was driving her insane. Sam was quickly losing control of the situation. And she was loving every minute of it.

**Day 26**

“Hey, Lena, are you okay?” Kara softly asked from the other side of her pod. She waited a few seconds before continuing, “I brought you lunch, I can just leave it floating here if you want.”

Lena opened her sleeping pod and motioned Kara to enter. It was barely big enough for two people. She had her back against a wall, with her legs stretched and her feet touching the other wall, so Kara did the same next to her. It was almost as if they were sitting… on nothing.

“I’ve got an email from my mom. For the first time in my life she said she was proud of me.”

“That’s great! I knew she—”

“She also said that she couldn’t contact me before because she was trying to protect me from Lex. Apparently, he attempted to kill me when he found out I was coming on this mission, and my mom sneakily stopped him both times.”

“He what?! Why would he do that?! Wait, he’s in prison, how would he—?” Kara realized then that it didn’t really matter because that moment wasn't exactly about Lex's power to do as he pleased. Lena wasn't crying. No, she looked utterly broken. All Kara could do was to place an arm around her and keep her there, stroking her arm. Lena leaned into her, her head resting on Kara’s temple.

After a while, Lena shifted just a bit, putting some distance between them but still letting Kara’s touch comfort her. “I know he went mad, I know he killed those people when he sabotaged the Russian spacecraft because of some absurd, misguided patriotism and because his power-hungry ass wanted to be the first one on Mars. But I—”

“But trying to kill his own sister is a completely different thing.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised, though. I shouldn’t _care_.”

“Of course you should care. Caring is one of the many things that makes you nothing like him. And whatever it is you’re feeling is valid, Lena. There’s no right way to feel. And I’m in shock, so how could you _not_ be surprised?”

“It’s just… for the longest time I thought he was the only person who loved me, you know? So if he can do _that_ then maybe I’m not—”

“ _You_ are a brilliant, kind, beautiful person. You have the biggest heart. _You_ don’t deserve any of this and I would gladly spend the rest of my life proving to you how amazing you are. You have people on your side now, Lena. I will always love you and I will always protect you.”

Lena let her head fall on Kara’s shoulder. “Promise?”

Kara tightened her hold a little. An “I promise.” was followed by a kiss on her head and even though the circumstances were awful, both of them would have stayed like that forever.

**Day 34**

Maggie knew that she would be able to move on from Alex Danvers. She _would_ , if only they would have had some time to spend apart. They'd tried to keep their distance but they still had to train and work together. It wasn’t easy when the cause of the break-up wasn’t that they didn’t work as a couple, or that one of them had already moved on. It wasn’t easy at all when Alex was right there and she was always so... Alex.

But she had come to realize that having Alex as a friend was better than not having her at all. Being just co-workers wasn’t working for them, they cared too much about each other, so she had to _try_. And she was, she was trying and it felt natural and good and _easy_. Until certain feelings wanted to resurface and Maggie had to back down for a bit, then it was all very hard.

That day was one of those days, so she just wanted to have a little alone time to gather her thoughts and feelings. She could have gone to her sleeping pod — she _should have gone_ to her sleeping pod — instead of going to one of these nooks, they all used them with similar purposes. In fact, Nia was reading in the first one she tried so she should have gone back then, any other place really would've been better.

Because seeing Alex kissing Sam was not exactly the inner peace she was hoping to find.

“Oh God, I’m sorry!”

Alex froze but Sam floated away from her, so she could see Maggie turning around to leave. “Maggie, wait!”

Maggie heard her but just pushed herself forward and hoped Alex wouldn’t follow.

Alex was torn between following Maggie and resuming what was happening with Sam... Sam, who had just finally kissed her after days of flirting and weird tension between them. Sam, who’d been having feelings for her for longer than she cared to admit but claimed that it never felt like the right time for them. Sam, her best friend since college and the woman whose lips were just on hers — pressing, moving, tasting, giving, demanding… smiling, because Alex’s lips were responding tenfold.

“Sorry” she mumbled, glancing at Sam without meeting her eyes, before going after Maggie.

Maggie. Her ex. The woman who got her to be herself. The first girl she ever loved. The woman she thought she could’ve married if they didn’t want different things from life. The one she was trying to be friends with, _again_.

“Sawyer, wait up!” Alex gave herself a good push to go faster. She caught up with her quickly and grabbed her foot.

“Rude, Danvers. Let go.”

“Will you stop and talk with me?”

“It’s fine, Alex.” Maggie sighed, then slowly turned around. 

Alex let go of her. “It’s obviously not fine.”

“I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Maggie, I know you, I know what you look like when you’re surprised even when it’s not a good kind, _this_ isn’t it. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long has that been going on? I thought we were starting to be friends...?”

“I… it literally just happened. Sam just kissed me and next thing I knew you were there.”

Maggie suddenly felt like she was on the ground, going outside for the first time in weeks, feeling the breeze on her face and the air entering her body again. “Oh. So, you two are not a thing? You didn’t want to—?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Back to reality, there were walls everywhere and someone had probably turned off the ventilation system? That didn’t seem safe. “Oh.”

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen with Sam. It’s not like I gave us time to have a conversation about it just now, but I do know that I’d like to try… you know, with her… But I’m sorry you had to find out this way. Are you okay?”

“Alex, I... “ _’I’_ what? _’I have to go?’ ‘I love you?’ ‘I’m okay?’_? _Was_ she okay? “I need some time... I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Whatever you need. I’m sorry.”

Maggie nodded and gave her a small smile. But as soon as she saw Alex turning around she realized she couldn’t let her leave like that, “Hey, Danvers! Stop being sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

It wasn't until a couple of days later, after sorting through her feelings alone, and a bit with Nia’s help, that Maggie understood something: this was exactly what she needed to finally move on. Knowing that Alex was happy — or at least on her way to being happy with someone else — made everything actually better and gave her hope that she could also find someone else. What’s more important, they could be friends without having to walk on eggshells around each other. This was it.

**Day 36**

“Hey Commander, you wanted to see us?” Lena and Kara entered the capsule and were surprised to see Sam was also there.

“Yeah, um… Sam kissed me a couple of days ago so we’re—”

Kara started spinning because she couldn’t bounce without gravity, “What?!”  
“Finally!” Lena exclaimed at the same time which made Kara paused.

“What do you mean finally?”

“Well, let’s just say Sam wanted to do that for a long time.”

Alex chuckled while Sam glared at Lena. “Anyway, yes, we’re going to give it a shot but don’t make a big deal out of it, please? Maggie says it’s fine but let’s give her some time.”

“Excuse me? You told _Maggie_ before telling me?!”

“I didn’t exactly tell her, Kara.”

“She saw us kissing.”

“Seriously, guys?” Kara reprimanded.  
At the same time Lena said, “Tell us everything.”

And they did. They told them how Sam began flirting one day and Alex responded innocently until she noticed something had slightly changed in the air between them whenever they were alone. They told them how that particular day Sam couldn’t take it anymore and decided to just tell Alex about her feelings, but midway through her speech she just kissed her. And Alex kissed back. They told them about Maggie and how just a few hours ago Alex had talked to her again and that she believed this was better for everyone, that they could be real friends now.

What they didn’t need to tell them was how happy they were. Lena and Kara both noticed their wide smiles, their glances at one another and how Alex and Sam seemed to forget for a moment that they were also in the room. They noticed the joined hands with moving fingers, which was clearly happening absentmindedly. 

When they left together as soon as they finished talking, it was obvious that they couldn’t wait to be alone. And Lena couldn’t restrain herself from yelling, “Remember the government doesn’t want you having sex, Commander!” Alex’s middle finger was the last thing they saw of them that day.

Kara was beaming, “They are adorable! I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming.”

“Really? I thought it was obvious, at least that Sam liked her, but then again, Sam told me even before I met Alex.”

“Woah, I don’t think I could keep something like that to myself for that long.” Kara actually thought she herself had been lasting pretty long already. Sometimes she thought she wouldn’t be able to last one more week.

“I mean, to be fair, at first she thought Alex was straight, which I totally questioned the minute I saw her but not even Alex herself knew at that point so… Then by the time Alex, and by extension all of us, found out well, Maggie was already in the picture. The break-up was rough and then we were just training.” Lena took a breath and moved her eyes away from Kara’s, “Also, by that time they were already such close friends... it’s difficult to risk that, you know?”

Boy, did Kara know. “Yeah, I get it.” it came out barely above a whisper. Where had her voice gone? Kara had no clue, but Lena’s eyes slowly found hers again so she figured she’d been heard.

Kara was saved from getting caught staring at her by Lena announcing she needed to go to the toilet. She sighed. Yeah, she probably wouldn’t last much longer. 

**Day 41**

Lena was checking something in the control capsule when Kara suddenly appeared behind her, “Lena?”

“Kara, hey.” Lena said without looking at her.

“Are you busy?”

She noticed something in Kara’s voice so she finally looked at her and saw the blonde looking down at her fidgeting hands. “Nothing that can’t wait. What’s up?”

“Um. Well, you gave me that t-shirt...” Kara looked down and realized what she was wearing. “This t-shirt actually, and it was one of the best gifts ever so I just— I wanted to give you something, too…”

“Kara, you don’t have to, that’s not why I—”

“I know, I know. But I want to, and I was going to wait till your birthday, but after the other day I thought… I just...” Her eyes — slowly, tentatively — finally met Lena’s. Kara extended her hand then, showing her the Claddagh ring she fished out of her pocket. 

Lena wanted to turn around and check if they were suddenly out of oxygen on the ship, since she was having trouble breathing. But Kara kept talking so even if it meant they’d all be dead in a few minutes, she wouldn’t take her attention away from her.

“I wanted you to have something special too. So I might’ve talked to Lillian a while back and I asked her if she still had something of yours when you were little, because I couldn’t believe she really got rid of everything...”

Words. What were words? Lena could only go from staring at the ring Kara left floating between them to staring at Kara’s bright blue eyes, and to the ring again and so on. She knew she had to take the ring before it began floating away towards the ventilation thing. So she did, and she also knew she had to say something. But words? She didn’t seem to find them. Kara looked scared. Of what? She didn’t know, but she wasn’t sure she remembered her own name at that moment, so there was that. Some genius she was.

“She actually _had_ thrown everything away. But, um… she found this hidden between your dad’s stuff. This ring, um, it was your mom’s. Sometimes Irish mothers give them to their daughters. Wait, you probably knew that already. But, well, since she couldn’t—” Kara was getting choked up, and Lena was trying her best not to cry because they were in the only place that didn’t have any towels around. Kara took a deep breath then, maybe she was thinking the same thing or maybe she just needed to collect herself before continuing. “The point is, it belonged to her, so it belongs to you. I have a necklace from my mom and it makes me feel like she’s still with me somehow, so I hope this can do the same for you.”

And just like that, Lena could no longer see clearly. Both of her eyes were literally filled with tears, so much so that a little ball was forming from her eyes to her cheeks. She hated crying in space. Kara was ready for this, though. She handed her a towel.

“Thanks.” Lena said before drying everything. Once that was done, she was still stunned, “Kara...” The only thing Lena could do was to move forward and give her the tightest hug she had ever given. “Thank you” she whispered, and there was a lot she felt she should say. But breathing was still an issue, so forming full coherent sentences was, quite simply, not an option. But when she felt Kara squeezing her whole body in response, she knew that her friend understood anyway. Hugging someone in zero gravity was somehow more intimate, it had to be either an awkward just-shoulders hug or a full body hug like this one. She’d thought that a hug like this would make her uncomfortable with anyone that wasn’t Sam, but no. It wasn’t just comfortable, it felt like she belonged in Kara’s arms.

**Day 47**

Calls with Earth were having more than a few seconds of delay, it could be up to a minute, so they were still having them but without video to make them faster.

“I know you don’t want to know about the gossip, but…”

“Ruby.”

“It’s just... people are shipping you and Alex, mom. You’d tell me if something happened, right? I’ve been waiting for you to make a move for ages!”

“People are what?!”

“Shipping you two? You know, they think you look cute together? Some think you’re already a couple… But then again, some people ship Alex with Maggie or even with aunt Lena. Oh! You also have the Kara and Nia shippers, but then there’s people who aren’t blind and can see from the few videos or photos that Lena and Kara totally belong together—”

“I know what shipping is, I’m not 80. I just—” Sam meant to cut her rambling as soon as she started talking but with the delay, Ruby had gotten quite a lot of words in. “I didn’t need to know all that.”

“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just fun, you know? There’s really good fanart too.”

“Ruby, NO!”

“Ew, mom, not what you’re thinking! Of course I stay away from things I don’t want to see or read about my mom or my aunts. Don’t think I didn’t notice you ignoring my question. I also noticed how you both seem happier these past few days.”

Sam sighed. She wanted to wait a little longer to tell her. Ruby already loved Alex so much, she didn’t want to get her hopes up just in case. Still, she could never lie to her daughter.

“You’re right. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, it’s just new with Alex but we _are_ happy.”

“Oh my God, I knew it! Tell me everything!”

So she did. And then, out of curiosity she asked to see some fanart. Ruby sent her a lengthy email full of art, along with a recount of every ship. It was harmless fun, but it was still a bit strange that some people thought she had more chemistry with Lena than with Alex. Though she understood when she read about Maggie and Nia, she _could see it_ even if she knew they were just good friends. Most people were spot on, because most people shipped her with Alex, Alex with Maggie and Kara with Lena.

“Ruby knows about us.” She declared as she entered the dining area where everyone was eating or heating up their food.

“I thought you wanted to wait?”

“I did, but apparently people are writing fanfics about us and she noticed we were both happier.”

“People are doing what about who?!” Alex did not take the news very well.

Kara almost choked on her food. Maggie and Lena burst out laughing.

Nia smirked. “You guys didn’t know? We all have fans and we all have ship-names with each other.”

“Unlike you, we try not to read anything about us.” Sam replied without judgement, they just had different opinions on the matter.

“Oh but it’s so much fun! There’s even—” 

“Nope, I don’t think anyone here wants to hear it, Dreamer.” Lena said with a tone that didn’t leave room for argument. Nia laughed and continued eating. Lena didn’t really mind, she was famous long before this mission and was used to rumors and fans. She just didn’t pay attention to it and didn’t want the other women to feel awkward about it.

“Anyway… how did Ruby take it?”

Sam got closer. “She loves you, Alex. She’s been waiting for ages for this. Her words.” She kissed her girlfriend’s forehead.

“Good. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

“She’ll like that.”

**Day 55**

“LUTHOR!”

Lena was startled by the sudden shout from someone who wasn’t even in the lab a second ago. “What the hell, Alex?”

“You’re literally a genius!! You could’ve made one of those little rooms with at least enough gravity for me to be able to have enjoyable sex!”

Oh, this was ridiculous. “Believe it or not, Alex, I had better things to do than thinking about what your sex life in space was going to be like.”

“Pfft, what about _your_ sex life, huh? Are we going to keep pretending that you’d rather have the guys here??”

“When were we pretending that? In any case, even if I wanted to, who would I have sex with, Alex? Because Nia's straight, Maggie's your ex, Sam's always been into you, which rules out both of you, and your sister's asexual.”

Alex was taken aback by that. She regarded Lena for a moment and much calmer than before she said, “You _could_ go for Maggie, you know? I wouldn't mind.”

“What?! No, that's not even the point. Sex was never an option for me here, I knew I just wouldn’t—” She suddenly realized who she was talking to. “Just stay out of it, Alex.”

“Wait, no...” Oh, no. Alex figured it out. Lena knew right then that she was definitely not graced with the superpower of teleportation or this would be the moment when she would’ve discovered it, she would already be very far away from this place. “Do you like Sam?”

Lena’s eyes widened. Alex _had not_ figured it out. She wanted to laugh but the Commander looked too pained and guilty, like she took something from her. “God, Alex, no. I’m seriously happy for you two, it’s not that.”

Alex didn’t look convinced, “Lena, I know I can be oblivious and my gaydar is shit but I have eyes. I saw you smiling at your phone more than once back home. And ever since we got here you’ve been distracted, the way anyone is when they like someone.”

“I promise, Alex, I don’t have feelings for Sam other than friendly unconditional love.”

“Ok. Is it someone on Earth then? Is it Kelly? ‘Cause I mean, I get it, she’s hot—”

“No!” Alex was not going to let this go, and Lena was attacked by a few flashbacks of Kara sarcastically telling her sister _’You? Pushy? Never.’_. She could lie, but what good would that do? Sam already knew anyway, it was a matter of time before Alex found out. So she powered through it. “I do like someone. But even if she did feel the same way about me, she wouldn’t want to have sex with me.”

“Luthor, have you seen yourself? Why wouldn’t she— Oh my God, you’re crushing on my sister???”

“Yes. Can you drop it now?”

“Nope, there’s no gravity.”

Lena rolled her eyes. “Great, then you won’t fall if I do this.” Lena pushed her playfully and Alex began floating away from the lab.

Alex wasn’t finished, though, so she just held onto the walls and stayed there. “Seriously though, it’s okay. I hope she likes you too, you know? I always thought no one would be good enough for her in my eyes, but you definitely are.”

The sincerity in Alex’s eyes and words was too much for Lena, she had to look away, blushing. “I—”

“I’m still mad at you, though... so selfish. If Kara wasn’t ace I bet this whole thing would have gravity.”

“Oh my God, Alex. Just hold on to each other really tight, I don’t know, I’m sure you can find a way to do it, now get out of here!”

**Day 77**

“Hey guys, the news from Houston isn’t _great_ but I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

Nia quickly intervened, “No offense, Commander, but I don’t know what it is yet and I’m sure I’ll be worried so just out with it.”

“There’s probably gonna be a major solar flare hitting us in about 3 days.”

Maggie gasped while everyone else started talking at the same time.  
“What?!” Nia was in shock.  
“How major?” Lena was already calculating things in her head.  
“Should we start working?” Sam knew they just needed to prepare.  
“Well, the ship has Lena’s magnetic field, right? As you said, nothing to worry about.” Kara finished with a smile. _A smile_. They knew she was a blind believer in Lena Luthor’s inventions but to be smiling at news like this seemed excessive.

“Exactly. This will just put it to the test. No biggie.” Alex sounded as confident as Kara, which didn’t sit right with Lena at all.

“Again, Danvers. How major are we talking about here? The shield can only hold so much, there’s a lot of factors to consider and we need to—”

Alex got to her before Kara and took her by the arms, “Lena.” Once she had the woman’s full attention she continued, “We’ll look through the numbers together, we’ll take all the necessary precautions, we _have time_ and that’s also thanks to you. We’ll be okay.”

Lena gave her a small smile, squeezed the hand holding her left arm and replied, “Three days. Let’s get to work.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 80**

All they had to do now was wait.

They had their suits on, just in case everything else failed. But it wouldn’t. Of course it wouldn’t, Lena had tested the magnetic field _a lot_ on Earth. Kara was 100% sure that all this worrying was for nothing. Well, 99%, maybe 95, but she hoped Lena would never know.

So they waited. 

Alex and Sam spent the whole morning holding hands. With their suits on. No physical contact whatsoever could be felt but it was something, and they needed _anything_.

Worst case scenario the magnetic field Lena had added to the ship wouldn’t resist the power of the flare, which may cause permanent damage to some parts of the ship while also exposing them to a lot of radiation for the rest of their expedition — _if_ nothing big was damaged and _there was_ a rest of the journey to think of.

Best case? The shield did its job to perfection and nothing happened other than maybe the cameras capturing a few cool photos.

Without any damage to the ship they could still face the radiation problem, but it wasn’t like they were going to instantly die or anything. At least not in a short period of time. But they needed the shield to work so they could install it on their camp on Mars. That way, the radiation wouldn’t be too much and they could keep going without having to worry about this again. 

Astronauts always had a lot of things to worry about, a lot of things could go wrong at any time, so one less thing would be very much welcomed.

So they kept waiting.

The noise alerting them that the flare had reached them began just after they had lunch. 

It lasted an hour.

After everything was said and done, Kara was right. “I told you guys that Lena’s amazing shield wouldn’t break, she’s amazing!” She cheered and as soon as Lena finished taking her suit off, Kara was hugging her. “You’re amazing.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know.” Nia patted Lena’s shoulder, “You did good, Luthor.” 

“You do know that it wasn’t just me, right?”

“Careful there with your big head” Maggie sarcastically added.

Alex gave Maggie a high-five before smiling at Lena, “You deserve the praise and the credit, just take it for once.”

Lena shot her a small smile and a nod.

**Day 109**

Nia was done. Why did she ever think it would be _fun_ to be up in space, locked up for so long, with a group full of _useless lesbians_? She had no idea. She knew that technically they were not all lesbians, but they _were_ all women with current _things_ with other women so she _was_ going to call them useless lesbians when talking about them as a group in her own mind.

First, there was the whole Alex/Maggie avoiding each other, which started on Earth really. Then she had to witness Sam and Alex flirting, which led to more Alex/Maggie drama — that thankfully ended soon enough and now they seemed to be in a good place.

And then... Then she had to walk in, well, _float in_ on Alex and Sam having sex. Because apparently they’d finally been enjoying it, since like a month ago. And she would love to say that _that_ was the worst thing she had to witness, but nope.

Because Kara ‘Panromantic Disaster’ (her words, not Nia’s) Danvers was on this spaceship. And Kara was _pining_ , and it was painful to watch.

“Supergirl, you’re staring. Again.”

“Huh? Sorry?” Then, Kara seemed to realize what was said and who said it. She turned to Nia, “What? Me? Stari—? Pfft, no I wasn’t.” 

“Sure... then I didn’t just totally take a picture of you not-staring to send to Brainy later.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I totally would and I did because you were totally staring at your girl.”

“She’s not my—” A fake or nervous laugh came out of Kara’s mouth and Nia could not take this anymore.

“Kara, please stop. Even people on Twitter can see it.” To her delight, Kara not only listened, but her cheeks turned red. “It’s okay to like Lena. Hell, I’m straight and I would totally go gay for her.”

“Nia! Tha—”

“What I don’t understand is why you haven’t done anything yet”

“I… I can’t…”

“Sure you can! You go over there and say ‘Hey Lena, you’re so beautiful I can’t seem to stop looking at you. Wanna make out?’, simple.”

“Okay, I’m leaving now.”

“Great, you got this!”

“In the opposite direction, Dreamer. Goodnight!”

“Coward!”

So, okay, maybe she _could_ have a little fun with these love-sick idiots. But seriously, how did Kara never notice Lena’s own intense — and very gay — gaze at her whenever she turned around? How could two people, two of the smartest people in the world, be so oblivious to what was right in front of them? She really didn’t want to intervene but again, and she couldn’t stress this enough, it was painful to watch. The longing looks, the hugs or little touches that always lasted a second or two (or thirty) longer than necessary, the little smirks, the lip-bites— Oh, for the gayest of Gods, THE LIP-BITES! Who bites their lip while talking to a _friend_? What _was_ that? Both of them did it! Why hadn’t anyone else said anything about that? Were they all blinded by the solar flare and Nia was the only one seeing all those interactions? 

She didn’t _want_ to intervene, but something needed to be done.

**Day 141**

Lena saw Alex coming towards her and Sam and she knew what was about to happen. Alex had clearly finished her workout a few minutes earlier than usual, so Lena was not going to stick around to see the passionate kiss the Commander would share with Sam.

\---

Kara ended up telling Nia that she was going to tell Lena how she felt only to get her off her back. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but they were just in such a good place, all of them were. They still had a lot of time to spend together, and Kara really didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

Plus, she was absolutely one hundred percent sure that Lena did not feel the same way about her. And even if she _did_ , Kara was still asexual and she knew how _that_ story ended. She didn’t want to lose Lena, not like that. Not like she had lost all her exes and potential somethings. 

“Hey, I didn’t know you were still here.” Lena’s voice caught her off guard. Kara had just finished running and was unhooking the harness from the treadmill.

“Oh, sorry, I was thinking and didn’t realized—”

Lena chuckled, “It’s fine. I’m a few minutes early anyway, Sam and Alex were being a couple in front of me.”

When Kara finally looked at her, the very moment her eyes made contact with Lena’s, she heard a familiar blip coming from the monitor. A blip that the monitor made to indicate they should slow down because their heart was beating a little bit too fast. The monitor that was currently still showing Kara’s heart rate. A heart rate that kept going up, even though she was no longer moving. 

The problem was that Lena obviously heard it too, which made Kara even more nervous. So the blip wasn’t stopping. And try as she might, she couldn’t take the damn harness off.

Lena _knew_ she could just turn off the computer and take Kara out of her misery. But she was a scientist and needed further proof that this meant what she thought it meant, you know, _for science_. So she actually laughed at her attempts and floated closer. “May I?”

Kara’s heartbeat was all over the place now. Lena smirked and put her hands on the harness, careful not to touch anything else, her eyes never leaving Kara’s.

The harness was finally off. The blip finally stopped. They were still so incredibly close. Their lips were so cl—

“Oh, you’re still here, Supergirl?”

Kara was suddenly floating away from her and Lena was going to kill Samantha Arias. She wondered if the whole mission would then turn into a real-life Among Us game. When she remembered she would have Alex to answer to, she decided against it. Still, Lena refused to talk to her during their whole workout. 

**Day 179 | T-minus 10 hours to land**

Stunning.

Striking.

Magnificent.

They had all been mesmerized by the red planet from the moment they first started seeing it up close… but this was too close, too big, _too real_. 

They knew the landing was the worst part, they knew a million things could go wrong but none of them could help the feeling that they had already made it. They were here, on Mars’ orbit. No human had ever been this far from Earth, no human had ever seen _this view_. 

And if Kara thought Lena looking at their home planet was something else, then she would have had to become a poet to explain the feeling of seeing Lena looking at Mars _like that_. It’d been a few days since they first got a glimpse of the planet in the middle of all this nothing, and it was a sight they would never forget. But Lena… it seemed like Lena never stopped looking, and she still got that sparkle in her eyes, there was wonder all over her face. It was like having a glimpse at the little girl Lena once was and Kara was entranced by her. 

Of course, she was also looking out the windows every chance she got, she wasn’t immune to the power the planet held over all of them. Still, that was to be expected, it was her lifelong dream after all. What she never expected was Lena.

They had a moment, a little over _a month ago_ they had a moment. Kara was sure they were going to kiss and then Sam was there and Kara quickly left, taking the moment with her... and she’d carried it with her all this time. It was so ridiculous how easy they could both act like nothing had happened. At some point, she started thinking that maybe she’d imagined it. But then sometimes she would catch Lena looking at her with something akin to longing… it made her trust in her memory. 

Granted, they hadn’t had that much time alone since then. There was a lot to do before they landed. The communication with Earth wasn’t fast enough those days, so they had to be even more alert to everything. They were under a lot of pressure and stress.

Nevertheless, Kara had been steadily falling for this woman for two years now. So excuse her if she kept waxing poetics in her head about the way the red of the planet was reflected on her green eyes. Or if her mind was preoccupied with the almost-kiss that needed to become a reality _soon_. Then again, an almost-kiss and a few longing looks could mean that Lena just found her physically attractive. And Kara had less trouble believing that than the fact that she could have any kind of real feelings for her. So she always ended up back in square one: she could not afford to lose Lena.

“Everything okay, Supergirl?” 

“Yeah…” Kara reluctantly took her eyes off Lena to turn towards her sister. “Can you believe it?”

“Honestly? I’m used to this by now, these past six months, the six of us together, being so far away from Earth that we haven’t even seen it in I don’t even know how long… so yeah, I finally believe this is happening. I can’t believe _that_ yet.” She finished pointing towards the giant red ball outside the window.

“I know, right?! I’m so happy I get to do this with you, Alex!” Her little sister was in her arms in no time, Kara’s excitement was infectious so Alex let herself be washed over by it for a while. She needed it, she needed a minute or two of not thinking of the time between then and the landing, of all the horrible ways things could go terribly wrong.

\---

“So let me get this straight, you’re saying that _you know_ we might all be dead in just a few hours and you still don’t want to do anything about it beforehand?” Maggie’s tone suggested that she was genuinely trying to understand. 

“You’re literally asking for a straight explanation where there’s none. Nothing about this is straight, Sawyer.” Sam very unhelpfully chipped in as she entered.

Lena rolled her eyes at them and continued putting on her suit. “If I’m going to tell Kara how I feel, I don’t want it to be because there’s a sixty percent chance that we’ll no longer be alive afterwards. I don’t want her to think even for a second that loving her is something I can only do for a few hours. I want her to know that it’s because I want to live a long happy life... with her.”

“Damn, Luthor! If Little Danvers is crazy enough to reject you, you know where to find me.”

“Like you’d be able to handle me, Sawyer.”

“I’m gonna write that little speech down to start my maid of honor duties.”

“Please, don’t start planning a wedding, Sam. Let’s get to Mars first.”

Lena knew Kara felt something for her. It became clear to her that day over a month ago, and it was clear in the very few moments they’d shared after that. That was also why she was convinced that Kara knew about her feelings too. So it was okay. She had waited this long, she could wait a bit longer. Besides, they needed to focus on the mission, she had faith it would be a success. She could deal with her feelings later.

**T-minus 1 hour to land**

Messages to and from Earth could last between five and twenty minutes so they were on their own, but they’d trained for this. The six of them were there for a reason and it was most definitely _not_ because they wouldn’t have sex out there. They were the best, their equipment, their ship, everything was the best of the best and they made it this far without a glitch. They could do this too.

Of course, they were still live streaming, even if it got to Earth with delay. They’d been live streaming for a few days. Not everything, of course, just the cameras outside and the one in the control capsule, where all of them were right now.

Maggie had easily undocked the control module, leaving the rest of the ship in Mars’ orbit. They went through every checkbox, every detail, they were on course and kept updating each other and the whole world on each technical step forward, each minute that passed.

\---

On Earth, Ruby and Eliza watched every NASA monitor hand in hand and with the same look of horror and wonder in their eyes. Houston had let all the families go there. Maggie’s mother was with them, apparently not even his daughter on Mars could make her dad forget about her sexual orientation. Nia’s whole family was also there, Brainy went with them but was soon next to Ruby. Lillian Luthor showed up just in time to watch the last half hour and it didn’t surprise Eliza how scared she looked.

It was even worse knowing that they had so much delay. On the monitors displaying video they were almost an hour behind, the only-audio stuff was close to twenty minutes, but Eliza couldn’t take her eyes off the faces of her daughters.

**T-minus 10 minutes to land**

In the ship, they were on the final countdown and it was taking _forever_. Every minute seemed to stretch for far longer than that. Every button they touched was a breath they didn’t take. Every affirmative sentence from one of them was like breathing fresh air again — and it had also been too long since they did _that_. They couldn’t afford any mistakes.

**5 minutes to land**

“I’ll have to go manual, Commander.”

They all heard Nia, but even if their training would have let them react to that, the rocky descent didn’t. The whole thing was shaking with a force that didn’t let them move much.

“You got this, Dreamer.” Alex acknowledged and encouraged.

There was no better pilot, they all knew it.

1 minute.

“This is it, ladies!” Alex sounded as confident as ever. Even if she was feeling the opposite.

They kept checking, kept reminding everyone the time left every 5 seconds. They kept working.

Nia was struggling to keep it steady, but she’d done it a million times before. Of course, she’d have to make sure they adjust the accuracy of the simulator because she definitely never felt it was _this_ difficult during training. Or maybe it was just the added pressure of knowing it was the real thing.

Either way, it was tough. But as Alex and Kara talked to Houston like they could answer right away, everyone was doing their parts. Maggie was also encouraging Nia and it felt good. 

With these five women by her side she could do anything, even landing on Mars.

5 seconds.

4.

3.

2.

1.

A final violent thump.

It wasn’t smooth. But it was a good landing anyway.

A good landing. On Mars.

“You did it!”

Nia could hear Maggie’s smile so she returned it. “ _We_ did it!” 

“We’re on Mars!” Their laughter was actually relief and they all knew it, they all felt it.

After what felt like an eternity but it was barely fifty minutes, they got the all-clear from Houston. They could go outside whenever they were ready.

And they were, they were ready and excited. They were also feeling Mars’ gravity on every part of their bodies, even if it was less than half of the gravity on Earth, it was still a lot after months without any. 

They sat there for a minute, trying to come to terms with what just happened, with what they were about to do. 

Alex did not want to be the first one to set foot on Mars, but they’d all agreed she deserved to be. She'd argued, for days, that Kara or any of them deserved it more.

But if there was one thing they all had in common was the stubbornness.

They reached an agreement, Alex would go down first but Kara would get to say the famous first words. She was better at that and both of them would be equally remembered that way, as they should be: the Danvers sisters, first humans on Mars.

So Alex opened the door and started going down, slowly. Step by step, taking in everything she was seeing and feeling.

It was strange, the moment her feet touched the ground, it didn’t feel different from Earth. She wished she could take off her helmet and smell the new air. She didn’t go far, she actually stayed right there and kept her eyes on Kara to see if she needed help.

Kara locked eyes with her sister the moment she stood on the planet. Her smile was wider than ever. “I love you, Alex. And I love this whole crew: Nia, Maggie, Lena, Sam. Everyone who worked hard with us to make this possible but stayed on Earth, every country that helped and every country that couldn’t but was still rooting for us. Yeah, this is a great human achievement, and a personal dream for many of us. But none of it means anything without other people. We do this for the next generation of humans. We do this out of love for our planet, our universe and our people. So, yeah, if everyone on Earth is listening to me right now I just want you to know that you should never lose hope because anything is possible, especially when you’re surrounded by the people you love.”

They were all down there by the time she finished the speech, so naturally they jumped on her to give her the first human group-hug on Mars.

Kara didn’t really know what she was going to say beforehand. She just knew that if her first words were going to be immortalized, she needed to name every single one of the people she came here with. And once she looked into Alex’s eyes she decided she would speak from the heart.


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 5 on Mars**

They were all exhausted. They’d been working non-stop since they got there. There had been several missions before, where robots had brought a lot of the things they would need. They brought the rest with them and they had to put everything together. Five whole days of hard work, sleeping in the control capsule and not having time to take a break. 

Finally their camp was finished and the shield installed. Everything was working as planned. The camp was spacious enough. They had three bedrooms, a bathroom, two labs, a dining room and the best part: a whole lot of space where they would see if they could grow food and pretend they were outside. They called it ‘The Bubble’. Its walls and ceiling were completely transparent, practically invisible. It still had the atmosphere where they could breathe without the helmet and the temperature, though not as warm as ‘inside’, wasn’t deadly cold at night. They could almost feel as if they were actually outside, on Mars. They _could_ see the marks on the ground, so they weren’t going to bump into the invisible walls.

They were still getting used to walking around, doing things with gravity and feeling way lighter than on Earth. And they still hadn’t had a moment to take everything in. But that night they were sleeping on the ground for the first time. And the next morning their normal life _on Mars_ was going to begin.

No one ever questioned the room arrangements. They didn’t even have to speak about it, all of them just knew: Sam and Alex were in one room, Nia and Maggie in the other, and Kara and Lena in the third.

**Day 6 on Mars**

Lena had thought quite a few times before that Kara couldn’t be more beautiful. She woke up before the blonde and one glance was all it took to see how wrong she was.

She went to train with a smile on her face. Then they all had breakfast together and started working. It was all so incredibly domestic and a nice change of pace from the last six months. It was essentially the same routine, but there was something different about not being on the ground.

They had caught the first proper sunrise the day before, it had been insane but they didn’t have time to dwell on it much. Yet, in the course of the last few hours, things changed and they started to settle. So, finally, Lena went ‘outside’ and sat on the big rock that was almost on the edge of the camp. A few steps more and she’d have looked like a fool bumping into ‘nothing’. She just wanted to sit there and really experience her first sunset on Mars.

Everyone else had pretty much the same idea. Maggie and Nia were inside, a blanket over them, and were looking out the window. Sam and Alex sat together on the ground of the Bubble, as far from Lena as possible, to have their little private moment.

Kara hesitated. For a brief moment she wondered if she should take a camera with her to capture Lena sitting on that rock, looking at the horizon. Then she thought better of it. Photos could wait, she didn’t want to miss a single second of this.

She looked nervous when she reached the rock. Kara didn’t know if Lena wanted company. However, the other woman saw her, she saw her fidgeting hands and her shy eyes. Lena moved forward and patted the little space next to her — behind her, actually, because her body was facing the sun.

Kara’s grin was blinding, she sat there and opened her arms. Lena was quick to lean into her, her back to Kara’s front. Her head on Kara’s cheek.

“It’s weird to think it’s the same sun, it looks so small.” Kara whispered, it felt wrong to raise her voice above that. This moment didn’t need extra sounds, just the barely-audible breeze, the dust moving against the rocks, their equipment working in the distance. 

“Yeah, it is. But it’s still beautiful, isn’t it?” Lena seemed to agree with her about the volume of their voices, and Kara was grateful. Lena’s voice was always a welcome sound and her almost breathless ‘beautiful’ would haunt — in the best way possible — Kara’s dreams for a while.

It _was_ beautiful, but that word actually fell short on so many levels. With the red sky turning blue as the sun began to meet the horizon, still unfamiliar dust beneath her, the almost fresh air on her face, and the woman she loved in her arms... Kara had never experienced anything like this moment. She was afraid that she would never be able to put it into words.

Then Lena shifted. She was no longer against Kara but she didn’t move far away either. She was still in her arms, putting a little distance so that she was able to turn around.

Their eyes met and Lena was still whispering when she asked, “Can I kiss you?”

Kara had not seen that question coming, in retrospective, that was pretty oblivious of her. Anyway, it took her brain maybe a second to catch up, but when it did she answered by leaning in and sharing the best first kiss in the history of first kisses.

It was, in part, the setting. Of course, the knowledge in the back of their minds that they were the first humans to have a first kiss on Mars had something to do with it as well. But it was mostly having their first kiss with the person they already loved. Tasting each other’s lips and tongues with the softness and affection that only people who were putting all of their feelings on their actions were able to.

They broke apart just barely. They kept their foreheads resting together, seeing the Sun set out of the corner of their eyes. Lena was the first to speak in a new kind of breathless tone that disarmed Kara, “I’m in love with you.” Because she needed to say it, even if she thought Kara had already figured it out.

Kara had not, in fact, figured _that_ out. She was not expecting such a confession, even if she _could_ feel some kind of emotion from Lena a few seconds ago. She remembered how to breathe again and smiled. And not wanting to break this moment between them, she kept the whispering voice, “Thank God, because I’m in love with you too.”

They kissed again. Lena’s hands were on Kara’s cheeks, and Kara’s hands were on the other woman’s back and everything about this moment was perfect. Except—

“You owe me fifty bucks, Sawyer!” Alex yelled from their own corner so Maggie could hear her inside.

Nia and Maggie ran outside. Even though Kara and Lena had stopped kissing when they heard Alex, they were still very much in each other’s arms. Lena burying her head in Kara’s shoulder, and Kara’s flushed face in full display.

“Finally!” Nia screamed and clapped, she was delighted. 

Maggie groaned, but only for having lost yet another bet to the oldest Danvers, she was trying to hide a smile. “You couldn’t have waited 3 more days, could you?”

Sam had her own arms wrapped around Alex and they were extremely happy about the other two. 

Lena finally acknowledged all of them and smiled. She gave Kara a little peck on the lips and leaned back to her to watch the spot where the sun had been just a moment ago. The six of them were a family by now. She was even glad they were there to share this moment with her. And as Maggie and Nia sat down leaning against the rock they were on just to annoy them, Lena laughed and thought she wouldn’t have it any other way. She let herself feel the love of these five women, and she could finally feel peace inside of her.

**Day 10 on Mars**

It was late, everyone had gone to bed already, but Kara was still in the Bubble.

“You okay, Supergirl?”

Kara loved that voice so she turned around to see Lena coming towards her, wrapped in a blanket. It was adorable. “I’m fine, just looking at the stars.”

“That’s Earth, right?” Lena pointed to one of the brightest spots.

“Yeah, and that one’s Phobos.”

Lena sat beside her, got Kara to move close to her and put the blanket over both of them. “It’s amazing.”

“Yeah, everything’s so different from here.”

A minute, then two. Lena could feel her thinking, if that was even possible.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking that this is it. We really made our dream come true.”

“Are you having a _'now what?’_ moment?” She smirked thinking about her next words, ”Because you know that _now you get to go find a new dream_ , right?”

That got a grin out of Kara. “Did you, Lena Luthor, just quote Tangled at me?”

“Maybe… It’s true, though.”

“It’s also true that you're my new dream, Lena.”

“You know I feel the same way, right? I love you, Kara.”

Kara kissed her then and even though the moment seemed nice, Lena knew better.

“Come on, let's go watch Tangled in bed. I know you really want to now.”

“God, I love you.”

And so they went. They cuddled in Lena's bed until the movie was over. Kara was too exhausted and too happy to think about anything else, but the worry was still in the back of her mind.

Lena didn't buy even for a second that she was fine, but she wasn't going to keep pushing. For now, she was just glad she could distract her for a little while. She watched Kara get into her own bed and fall asleep. She still couldn't believe they were there. Still had a hard time coming to terms with any of this. But the fact that Kara loved her back? That was the most unbelievable thing of all.

**Day 15 on Mars**

Kara and Alex were a bit away from camp, on their suits of course, exploring the area.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Alex decided to finally bring the subject up. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean? Nothing’s going on. We’re collecting rocks and seeing if we can find water... or a martian.”

“Kara. You know what I mean. You’ve been avoiding Lena for days, we’ve all noticed.”

Kara stopped walking suddenly, which caused Alex to turn to her, concern all over her face. “Alex, I…” Kara’s eyes were filling with tears, she was clearly having a hard time breathing. Alex hated herself for bringing this up now, when she couldn’t touch her sister and her helmet was probably making things worse for her.

She grabbed her arms and tried to soothe her anyway. “Hey, it’s okay. In and out.”

Kara did, she closed her eyes and gave herself a minute. Then, “I love her, Alex.”

“I know you do, she knows you do. What’s the problem? Did she do something? Because I swear to God, I don’t care if we need her to go back, I’ll—”

“No! Alex, you know she wouldn’t!”

Alex did know. She also knew her sister wasn’t finished, she was just gathering her thoughts. So she waited for her to continue. But then she didn’t, she just sighed and sat there on the spot instead. On the ground, in the middle of nowhere, on Mars. She looked like a sad lonely puppy and Alex kicked herself for not having seen it before.

“Is it the sex thing?” Alex asked almost too quietly while sitting down next to her.

“You and I both know how this always ends...”

“Lena is not Mon-el, Kara. She’s not like anyone else really.”

Kara faced her sister and gave her a sad smile. “You noticed that too?”

Alex rolled her eyes. “Did you talk to her?”

“What? No! How—? I can’t—”

“Kara.” Alex took her hand. “She knows you’re asexual, she’s okay with it, she even… no, you know what? I’m not having this conversation with you. You should talk to your girlfriend.”

“But Alex—”

“Kara, if I was the one doubting Lena right now you’d be fighting me, probably with more than just words.”

“I’m not doubting her—”

“Yes, you are. If you don’t think you can be honest with her, if you feel the need to avoid her when you just started your relationship, you’re not giving her enough credit. That woman is unbelievably good and she _loves_ you. I honestly don’t think there’s anyone better in the whole universe for you. So please, stop moping around and talk to her.”

“I will.”

The rest of the time was spent in a comfortable silence that Alex knew Kara needed. 

When they got back, Kara took off her suit and went to her room. Lena was sitting on her bed looking like she was waiting for something, probably her if the look she threw her way when she saw her was any indication. Lena also signaled for her to sit beside her so, yeah, she was waiting for her.

Lena could tell that Kara was nervous but at least she did sit beside her even if she was staring at her feet. “It seems that you and Alex forgot that I was the one listening on the comms today.”

Kara’s head snapped up, their eyes met and she was clearly scared. How could she be so stupid?! They always had someone listening just in case something happened. “Oh my God, Lena, I’m so sorry. I wanted to talk to you, I just—”

“It’s okay.”

Kara felt Lena’s hand on her cheek and she instantly relaxed. “Is it really?”

“I’m honestly relieved because that _was_ one of my theories on why you were avoiding me. Though my insecurities got the better of me and I thought maybe you were regretting this, regretting _us_.”

“No! Of course not! I’m sorry I avoided you.”

“You can make it up to me later.” Lena tried so hard to say that without any teasing tone that could be misinterpreted that it sounded almost robotic. At least it made Kara laugh so she would count it as a win.

After a few seconds Kara was visibly anxious again. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.”

“You’ll want to have sex at some point.”

“I can have sex with myself just fine.”

“Lena.”

“Kara.”

“I’m serious, it’s happened before, it always happens. Maybe it’s a week from now, maybe it’s two years down the line, but at some point you’ll want something I can’t give you.”

“Have you dated me before and I wasn’t aware?”

“What?”

“Kara, I’ve been attracted to you since the moment I met you. I haven’t had sex with anyone in that time, even before that if I’m honest, and I’m not dying to either.”

“But—”

“No ‘buts’. Yes, I think you’re incredibly hot and I would love to be physically intimate with you — which doesn’t exclusively mean sex, by the way — but only if that’s also what you want. I just want us both to be happy and comfortable with each other. Whenever I think about my future with someone, even before I met you, I always think of having a best friend, someone I can be myself with and vice versa, someone I can cuddle with, someone to kiss every morning and every night. I want intimacy but an emotional one. I’m not gonna say I don’t love having sex, because I do, but that’s so far down the list that it doesn’t even matter. I’m in love with _you_ , Kara, not with your body nor with the possibility of sex.”

How was it possible to fall even more in love? How was Lena Luthor even a real person? How did she ever get this lucky? Kara would never know and she was certainly never going to complain. She caressed the perfect face of her girlfriend and leaned in until their lips touched. It was so sweet. Lena was always so careful and let Kara set the pace, never demanding more, never doing anything other than showing her how much she loved her and making Kara fall deeper in the process.

“Wait. Wait.” Lena broke the kiss. “Kara. I understand how you were feeling and I forgive you, but if this is going to work we need to talk to each other.” 

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll do better.”

It would take time for Kara to fully trust that it wasn’t going to be an issue in the long run, they both knew it. But she did trust Lena, and Kara had learned that as long they were open with each other, everything would be fine.

That night was the first time they slept in the same bed, holding each other. And from then on neither wanted to sleep any other way.

**Day 17 on Mars**

“Luthor! Reign!”

“What is it Sawyer?”

“Where’s Lena?”

“Sawyer! What is it?!”

“There’s a dust storm East from here, it wasn’t huge but... I can’t hear them anymore.”

Sam wanted to throw up right there and then.

When Kara entered the room both women froze. Not that Sam was doing much else before, but Maggie at least was _trying_. “Lena is in the bathroom, what happened?”

“We lost communications with Danvers and Dreamer.” If she kept it professional maybe, maybe she could forget for a moment about the fact that those were her two best friends. Unlikely, but still.

Kara didn’t have time to process because there was a sudden static sound coming from the speakers. She was right next to Maggie in an instant and they kept trying to make the signal better.

Five minutes later, Lena was never going to forget the scene she walked into that day. Maggie was yelling at Kara, who was trying to put her suit on, and Sam was trying to work on the radio but her mind was clearly not in it. She’d never seen her so scared. “Sawyer! What’s happening?!”

They filled her in. Dust storm. Lost comms. Kara wanting to _recklessly_ leave. Lena not only knew how to function in these situations, she excelled at them. “Reign, go drink some water and get my computer. I’ll try to work on the radio. Supergirl, stop that right now, get yourself together and come help me. Sawyer, keep monitoring the storm.”

“Lena, I have to—”

“Supergirl. What you _have_ to do is remember your training and your mission. And trust that we’re talking about two very capable women out there. They’ll be fine. But they might need our help from here. They wouldn’t want us doing rushed heroic shit that could get ourselves killed.”

Kara nodded and left the suit be. She took a seat beside Lena. 

Lena asked her for help with a few things and while her girlfriend did them, she rested a hand on Kara’s thigh and whispered. “She’ll be fine, they both will. We gotta keep it together.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I love you.” Lena pressed her lips to Kara’s forehead before continuing with her work.

An hour later, there was still no progress and no news. At least the dust storm seemed to be a really minor one and already ending.

And then they heard the first door opening and closing. Then the second one. They all exhaled, until—

“I lost Alex.”

There was never a more deafening silence. 

Nia started stripping while pacing, an impressive feat in any other moment. “When we saw the dust storm coming it was too late, we were like ten feet away from each other and it all happened so fast. The dust hit me and I fell and I’m pretty sure she fell too, but I couldn’t see anything, and I think the comms got damaged, I don’t know, because it doesn’t look like any other part of the suit broke.” She was clearly trying not to cry.

Once out of her suit, Maggie ran towards her and hugged her tight. “I’m glad you’re okay. Sit down, I’ll get you some water.”

Lena cleared her throat. “Yes. We’re all glad you’re okay, Nia. We’re gonna need more details, though.”

“I know.” So she did just that. She told them Alex was ahead of her and that the wind probably pushed her even further East. She explained how she tried to find her before coming back but once she saw an opening she had to take it to let them know.

“Okay, so now that the dust storm has passed I can go find her, right?”

“Kara, no.”

“Lena, please!”

Maggie was tired of this. “We’re not having this argument again, Supergirl.”

“We should send one of the robots.”

“What if her suit broke?”

It’s not like Kara didn’t know the answer to that. She’d already be dead. But Lena could not say that. She was having trouble thinking it herself. This room was full of people who regarded Alex as the most important person in their lives. Her feelings shouldn’t matter right now, but Lena wanted to go look for the Commander herself, how was she supposed to keep fighting Kara on this?

Nia stood up and once she reached Lena she muttered, “Little boxes, Luthor.” Nia’s boyfriend was one of Lena’s closest friends and the little boxes were their thing. It was just something Lena taught him once about putting aside feelings for a little while to be able to focus on the work that needed to be done. She usually was the master of it, though right now it was getting increasingly more difficult with each passing minute. So she was glad for the reminder, she was glad to have Nia there. Lena squeezed her hand in response because suddenly speaking was hard.

Lena barely registered Maggie arguing with Kara again.

“Okay, enough!” Sam was using her mom-voice but anyone could still hear how it cracked at the end.

“We’ll send a robot. But Maggie and Lena should also go try to find her too. It’s still early, there’s no more storm, it would be insane not to search for her ourselves. A two-hour search party, that’s it. Then you’re back. We’ll monitor everything and let you know if you need to come back.”

“You’re right.”

“Please, let me go.”

“Kara. Neither of us would be capable of coming back when we need to, not saying those two would do much better... but I trust they can think with their heads much better than we can because that’s usually the case.” 

Kara nodded in defeat and went to help Lena with her suit.

“Please, take care of yourself.”

“I will.”

“I… I can’t lose both of you, Lena.”

“Hey, no. I will do everything in my power to find her and come back to you, okay?”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” Sealed with a kiss. It was the best Lena could do right now.

Sam was helping Maggie.

“Don’t say it, Sam.”

“I won’t, I know I don’t have to. Just… Two hours. Not one more minute, we can’t afford to have you two also out there at night. Come back in two hours and bring Lena back with you.”

“I will.”

“Take care.”

\---

An hour passed. It was the worst hour of their lives. 

Maggie and Lena were mostly talking to each other and when they weren’t, they would just give an update every few minutes to let them know the comms were still working.

Kara had almost broken her hand trying to hit a rock but Nia stepped in just in time, her back hurt like hell now but at least they were both still in one piece. Kara’s only words were “I’m sorry” ever since then.

Nia noticed Sam had been glued to the radio and monitors. 

“Hey, let me take over for a while.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sure you are. Go help your sister-in-law with the robot and her anger issues.”

Sam relented and walked up to Kara.

“Heard you’re in need of a punching bag.”

Kara appreciated the attempt at a joke, but she was not in the mood. “What I _need_ is my sister.”

“Me too.” Sam took hold of her free hand, the one that wasn’t on the computer moving the robot. They could let it go on its own, it did for a while, but Kara needed to feel like she was helping somehow.

Kara sighed and squeezed Sam's hand. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to be.”

An hour later, Maggie and Lena were back.

Nia knew she had to take the lead because they were all hanging by a thread. “Okay, so… We’ll take turns sleeping and be back outside as soon as there’s light tomorrow.”

“Like anyone’s going to sleep.” Maggie pointed out.

“Take a pill if you have to, I don’t care, but we’re all going to sleep because Alex needs us rested tomorrow, is that clear?”

Everyone nodded.

“Great. Sawyer, Luthor and Supergirl, go to sleep. We’ll wake you in a few hours.”

The second they were alone, Kara let herself break down, almost crumbling to the ground. Lena caught her and led her to the bed, she was also crying. She could finally open her boxes for a while, they needed this. Kara was in no state to comfort her, but it was okay, having her in her arms was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for all the love! <3 
> 
> For those who were asking for it... Even if it wasn't mentioned in this chapter, of course Alex and Sam were the first humans to have sex on Mars. The very moment they finally had gravity and a bed, you bet that's what they did XD


	5. Chapter 5

**Day 18 on Mars**

It’d been fourteen hours without Alex.

The sun was about to start rising.

They were very aware of the fact that her oxygen wouldn’t last much longer.

Lena was exhausted already and this day hadn’t even begun. “I think a couple of us should go North this time, if the wind was going East and a bit to the South, maybe she realized it and went North instead of continuing East.”

“Yeah, if she was hurt or she was anywhere East we would have found her yesterday, she’s gotta be hiding somewhere.” Maggie was hopeful, she was half expecting (and full-on dreading) to find a body the day before so she took it as a good sign when they didn’t.

“Suit up, Supergirl.”

“Sam, can we trust you two?”

“Yeah, it’ll be better for all of us if we’re out there, ask Nia’s back if you don’t believe me.”

“Okay, just—”

“Please tell— tell me Nia is here.” Nobody had heard the doors, nor the helmet dropping. Alex was suddenly there, on her knees, looking around desperately until she caught sight of Nia and visibly relaxed. Then she couldn’t see anything else, she just felt Kara and Sam surrounding her.

They helped her out of the suit and took her to a chair.

“Of course the storm threw me off balance, I might’ve hit a rock, I don’t know, but I couldn’t get up for a while. Then I started going North because that’s the only thing I could do without falling. I found a cave and figured it was best to stay put until morning, I have no idea what happened with the comms, but it’s not like I could look into it.”

“But are you okay?” Her sister was clinging to her like a koala, Sam was at her other side stroking her hand.

“I’m fine.” 

“You should eat something and rest, though.”

“That’d be nice. I’m sorry I worried you, guys.”

“Please, we barely noticed you were gone, Danvers.”

“What Maggie means is: it wasn’t your fault, Alex. We’re happy you’re back.” Lena finally took Kara away from Alex so she could hug her herself.

“Oh, I know what Maggie means. Did you lose another bet with me coming back so soon, Sawyer?” 

“I would have won this one but you weren’t here to make the bet. Don’t do it again.” Maggie’s arms were around her and Nia was soon joining them. 

“I’ll try not to.” She answered when they let her go. She reached for Sam’s hand again and led her to their room. “See you in a few hours.”

Lena followed them with some food for Alex before leaving them alone.

She ate in silence, with Sam rubbing circles on her back.

“Are you really okay?” The question came as soon as she finished her meal.

“I am… exhausted mostly.”

“You don’t have to be strong all the time, Alex, not here.” Sam kissed her temple and Alex melted into her.

It wasn’t right away, but she felt Alex getting comfortable in her arms and getting ready to talk. “I was so scared at first, for Nia mostly, to be honest. But then once I was in that cave I just kept thinking about you, and what if I couldn’t go back, what if I ran out of oxygen... Kara’s finally so happy, and she's lost so much already, she couldn’t— I couldn’t—”

Sam hugged her as she let it all out, with soothing movements and little head kisses. Her heart broke for Alex and what she went through. The shock of the dust storm, not knowing if Nia was okay, not knowing if she herself was going to be.

But she was safe then and they were together, so everything was going to be okay.

**Day 28 on Mars**

That minor dust storm was just a warning.

There was another one, two days later. On the whole planet. It lasted 26 hours and they still couldn’t see a thing.

Luckily they had still been wary of going back outside. Unfortunately, that also meant they couldn’t go check on the ship.

They heard it from Houston first. There was some damage to the control module. Alex explained all the technical stuff and then, “We have a choice to make.”

“To the point, Danvers.” Nia did not like the suspense.

“We can go back as soon as it’s clear, cutting the mission short, and having a small chance of failure at launch and a slightly bigger chance of failure at reentry.”

“Or?”

“Or we wait for a rescue team to get here, which would take about ten months.”

Lena was already going through all the possibilities in her head. “We _could_ wait in terms of supplies and everything we need to survive, but if something were to happen to the rescue mission…”

“It could get ugly. Food clearly wouldn’t be an issue seeing we’re growing some stuff but...”

“The camp isn’t built to last for more than a year.” Maggie finished for Alex.

Kara didn’t know what was the better option. “Then again, we have no reason to assume something bad would happen if we wait, right? However, if leaving the planet now doesn’t kill us, we could be adding to the damage and we might burn at reentry.” 

“Yes. There’s a pro and con to both options. There’s no really a right answer here.” Alex stated. “Look, we still have at least a couple of days of the sky full of dust, let’s sleep on it and we’ll vote tomorrow, okay?”

“What about option three?”

“Maggie, no.”

“What? What's option 3?” Alex and Maggie were glaring at each other and Nia really wanted to know all the possibilities.

“Whoever wants to go back early can do so, the rest can stay.”

“First of all, I’m pretty sure they won’t approve of that, it’d be too expensive and the risk is too high. Second, we're all in this together and if any of you starts singing I swear to God—” she pointed an accusatory finger at her sister while squinting at Nia.

Maggie understood, she did. But at the same time she was trying to give everyone a fair chance. “I don't want this to sound bad but I just don't think this will be a good democracy because the four of you will have the same vote.”

“What?!”

“Maggie's right, guys. One half of the couple will want something more and the other will give in. And then it would just be puppy-eyes Danvers versus overprotective-sister Danvers and we all know how that will go.”

Maggie smirked, “Which basically ends with Luthor’s vote deciding all of our fates.”

“Hey!” Alex was the only one to protest, the rest of them knew it was true.

Of course Lena was the one with the perfect solution. “Let's vote now. We’ll put a number down. Option 1 or 2. We'll reveal them at the same time and do what the majority says.”

Kara did not like this. She couldn't begin to think what the rest of them would choose. Did Lena think the smart thing was to stay? Would Alex want to leave as soon as possible after her horrible night alone? What _was_ the best option? “If it's a tie?”

“We'll have a good debate until we reach a conclusion like the intelligent adults we are.”

They agreed.

They voted. 

Sam - 1. Alex - 2. Nia - 2. Maggie - 1. Lena - 1. Kara - 1.

“Really?” Nia had been so sure most of them would vote differently.

Lena’s eyes were on Alex when she answered, “I honestly trust us more than I trust them, and whoever they might send, to get here in one piece at the right time before we die of something else. If we manage to get out of here, we’ll have almost seven months to fix everything for reentry.”

“ _If_ we manage to get out without burning. And it’s not something we can easily fix.”

“It’s our best chance, Alex.”

“I’m not trying to convince anyone. It was decided. We should really start preparing so we are ready to leave as soon as possible. Excuse me.”

She was gone in the direction of her room just like that.

Nia didn’t really mind the outcome. She thought it was a bit more dangerous, but maybe a faster death outweighed the bigger risk.

Kara and Sam were in a staring contest. Who was going to go after Alex? They both wanted to, although neither of them really knew what to say.

Lena sighed and beat them to it.

“You tried to guess, Danvers.”

“What?” Alex was not expecting Lena, especially not her leading with _that_.

“You voted what you thought Sam wanted or Kara, I’m still not sure which one. But it wasn’t your decision.”

“No, I really think there’s a greater risk in—”

“Yes, of course there is. But you take the greatest risks as a challenge. You also _want_ to leave... for more than one reason.”

“I did it for Ruby.”

“What?”

“I don’t want her to lose Sam, and she’d be losing all of us at the same time. I thought it would be safer even if it meant staying longer.”

“Alex… you don’t think Sam’s also thinking about Ruby?”

“I think Sam voted what she thought I wanted and now we’re leaving because of it.”

“Okay, that’s my cue to leave and get her ass over here.”

“But—”

“No. Remember when you told your sister she should be talking to me instead of you? Well, guess what?” Lena raised an eyebrow at her.

“Okay.”

Alex looked torn and Lena remembered the way she always cared about Ruby, from the very beginning. This wasn’t her worrying about her girlfriend or her girlfriend’s kid. This was Alex worrying about Ruby and putting her first as if she was her own daughter.

Lena walked closer and gave her a kiss on the forehead before leaving.

Not even a minute later, Sam was there.

“Alex, what’s going on?”

“You don’t want to leave.”

“What? Of course I do.”

“Don’t you think the risk of us dying is worse than waiting a few more months until your daughter sees you, _alive_?”

“I… When you put it like that… But I chose to go because I thought it was the best for Ruby. Yes, I want to go back to my daughter as soon as possible, and of course I want you out of the place that keeps giving you nightmares. I know the risk looks greater but I really think that we have a better chance if we do leave as soon as possible. I want us to _live_.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“I… I think you’re right. What Lena said before, I trust this crew too. I think we can do it. I just—”

“You were thinking with your heart. You thought it was a safer bet, you thought that was what _Ruby_ would want us to do.”

“I— yeah…”

“And you have no idea how much I love you for that. Alex, I promise you, staying might sound safer on paper but it’s not. We’ll make it home to her.”

**Day 32 on Mars | T-minus 1 hour to launch**

It wasn’t a failure. In a month they got to do most of what they had planned to do in three. They were _that_ good. For all intents and purposes, the mission was well on its way to be a success. They only had to come back in one piece.

It was nerve-wracking knowing that the capsule was damaged enough that they could all die while trying to leave this planet. Rocks had collided against it, so there was external and some internal — unimportant, in theory — damage. There could also be _something_ they hadn’t seen, and they would only know about that something when it was too late.

Things could always go wrong on a mission like this, on launch day especially. They’d never faced worse odds than these, though.

The day before had been a chaos of emotions. Everyone sent video messages to Ruby and Eliza, to Brainy and a few of their other mutual friends. Maggie and Nia also sent one to their families and even Lena had sent a short one to Lillian. They were hopeful, they just needed to tell that to the people they loved.

The six of them hugged, laughed and cried watching their last sunset from Mars. They still found the whole thing quite surreal.

As expected, the control module was in bad shape. Even so, the launch was perfect. And according to Lena, they could totally fix most of the external damage before they had to land on Earth.

Docking to the ship wasn’t as smooth, but after surviving the launch they didn’t worry about that. 

Seven months. Half of this adventure was already done.

**209 days to Earth**

They’d begun working right away. Anything they could think of doing to minimize the risk of burning on the Earth’s atmosphere, they’d do it.

Even though they had to cut their mission short, they were all happy with it. It was, after all, a real dream come true. However, being that far away from Earth and from the Sun was getting to them. They were tired and they had a long trip ahead of them. 

They knew that the only reason they weren’t completely crazy by that time was because they had each other. Stronger together, as Kara would often remind them, and they were. The fact that they were not only co-workers, but _friends_ — family, even — helped more than they thought possible.

There was this thing, though, that they were all secretly feeling. The trip to Mars had been unbelievably smooth. Everything had gone so well it seemed unreal. It made them feel that the odds were against them for their return journey.

And they were right.


	6. Chapter 6

**187 days to Earth**

Kara was happy. 

She loved being in space, especially with them. They worked hard and played games and goofed around. Yeah, life was good. If she didn’t take into account the feeling of impending doom. 

Still, she was anxious to get back to Earth. She couldn’t wait to feel the sun on her face again, to go outside even on a rainy day, to not be surrounded by metal all the time. In many ways, this felt like a long vacation, a dream. And she was eager to get back home and start living her real life, with Lena by her side.

Anyway, Kara was happy and she was outside the ship installing some new panels for extra security. All of a sudden, she felt the tether holding her to the spacecraft move violently, then she was floating away as she realized she wasn’t tied to it anymore.

“Alex? I can’t hold on to anything.”

“What happened, Supergirl?” Alex asked through the comms, until she saw the outside cameras and didn’t need an answer anymore.

“It was probably an asteroid, Alex, I can’t—”

Alex was gone. She could put on a suit in record time if it meant going after her sister.

“Kara? Can you hear me?”

“Lena, I don’t think the jet thrusters are working, I can’t see the ship anymore and I don’t want to try to turn around in case I—”

“Alex is getting ready, love, we’ll get you back. Just breathe, okay?” What were the chances of an asteroid hitting the only thing tying her to the ship? Brainy would probably know the exact number, she only knew they were very slim. There wasn’t any other explanation, though, so that would have to do. And she _was_ breathing, she’d done a lot of spacewalks and she had trained for any kind of emergency. It was just that the SAFER (the thing with the jet thrusters) failing at that particular moment was absolutely ridiculous, what were the odds of _that_. “Kara? I see you, you’re still close. Stick with me, I’ll keep you out of the darkness.”

And yeah, okay, she was freaking out a little, but as long as Lena was in her ears saying things like that, she knew she’d be fine. She had the most powerful women in the universe looking out for her, they were not going to let her float away. “I’m here, I’m here. I love you.”

“I love you too. Alex will be there before you know it.”

Lena continued talking until Alex got to her. They even looked at the broken tether before going inside, and yeah, definitely an asteroid.

Kara was happy and so ready to go back to the ground.

 **165 days to Earth**

Before leaving the red planet, Alex and Sam had decided to stop having sex in space. They had gotten to enjoy it, but it was exhausting really. Sex on Mars was great, though.

However, Sam couldn’t get enough of Alex. So of course she had sneaked into her pod the night before, just so they could both sleep in the same sleeping bag, in each other’s arms. Actually sleeping with someone in space was way more comfortable than on Earth.

Because of that, Sam woke up well-rested and content. Then, she saw the new email Ruby had sent her.

It only read: _'Everyone knows! I love you mom’_

Attached was a short clip of a video Maggie and Nia had done and updated to their mission's YouTube channel a couple of days ago. In the blurry background you could see something that seemed to be two people floating quickly from one side to the other of the frame. Since they didn’t have any point of reference for which way was up, it only _looked like_ one of them was laying on her back and the other was completely on top of her, and they were kissing. It was a blink-and-you-missed-it moment and Sam only knew exactly what was going on because she was one of the two people involved.

But there were also a few screenshots of it, people had taken the time to enlarge and enhance that part so they could better see what was happening. And it was clear as day. No one could really tell it was them but their hair didn't leave room for discussions. Maggie and Nia were in front of the camera, Kara was blonde, and Lena's black, straight, long hair was nothing like Sam's or Alex's.

They had been outed to the whole world and they had no one to blame but themselves. They knew the other girls were recording that day, they just didn't know they were going to be in the shot, or they were too distracted to care. None of them had seen what was happening in the background before uploading it.

Alex was embarrassed but still laughed for five minutes when Sam broke the news and showed her the memes Ruby had also included — the kid was having too much fun with this.

Lena advised them to just make a video themselves coming clean about their relationship, taking control of the narrative. Kara asked Ruby to send her every meme and funny post she could use against her sister. And Maggie and Nia started to create their own memes to mess with both couples on the ship, without posting them online, of course.

They listened to Lena. It was a short clip.

“Hello, fellow humans! It has come to our attention that you figured some things out so we wanted you to hear it from us that yes, Sam's no longer available.”

Sam slapped her arm playfully. “What Alex means is that we've been best friends for a long time and we're happy in a loving relationship now. Thank you for all your positive messages about it.”

Alex pointed at her, “Yeah, that.”

Sam rolled her eyes and Alex quickly kissed away whatever she was going to say before ending the video.

**138 days to Earth**

Maggie loved space, and she loved this crew. She was glad things with Alex were great. She had Nia and Lena, and she also had Sam and Kara, even though they weren’t as close. They all had become a family. She could live forever traveling to new planets with these women.

At that particular moment, though, Maggie just wanted to pee. Like, really wanted to pee. Which was a problem because when she entered the stall she saw a red light. It indicated the toilet wasn’t working. She tried to open the valve anyway but nothing happened, it was supposed to suction to take the urine to the recycling equipment.

“Luthor!”

If Lena was surprised to hear Maggie’s scream from inside the stall, she didn’t say anything, she just got near and asked, “What is it?”

“It’s not working.” Maggie floated out so Lena could go in. She saw Alex and Sam had also come to see what happened and they were trying not to laugh at Maggie’s face. “I really need to go, it’s not funny.”

“It’s not. It might be if you have to end up peeing somewhere else, though.” Alex was just trying to distract her. Maggie knew that and she appreciated it.

“That won’t be funny for anyone actually.”

“Right? Thank you, Arias.”

“The oven is broken, ladies!” Nia’s voice got to them before she did. 

“What?!” The four of them said in unison.

“What’s happening here?”

“The toilet is broken.”

Kara was suddenly there too. “I can live with a broken toilet, I draw the line at the oven.”

Alex rolled her eyes at her sister. “We’re all very shocked to hear you say that.”

Lena finally came out of the stall. “I have no idea what’s going on but it can’t be a coincidence. We need to talk to Houston.”

“God, that will take a lot of minutes!” Maggie was really trying to keep it together, she really was.

“Okay. Supergirl, Luthor, go talk to Houston. Reign, go check the oven while Dreamer keeps checking the toilet. I’ll read the manuals to see if we’re forgetting something. Sawyer, try not to leave a giant ball of urine floating around.”

It took them thirty minutes to know what was wrong and twenty more to fix the toilet. Maggie had been thirty seconds away from using a few bags and towels. It turned out it _was_ a coincidence, or at least the fact that they found out almost at the same time.

They couldn’t believe the luck they were having, they could only hope the rest of the trip was better.

When Maggie was finally done doing her thing, she began helping with the oven while a very worried Kara supervised.

These incidents didn’t change her mind about space, but they did make her appreciate some things from Earth.

**97 days to Earth**

“A lot of you had been asking if Sam and I had sex in Zero-G.” Alex said to the camera. “While that’s not really any of your business, I understand the curiosity behind it.”

“Alex!” Kara floated fast right into the shot.

“What?! Scientific minds want to know!”

“You do realize Eliza watches these videos, right? And Ruby?”

Alex gasped dramatically, “No!” When Kara rolled her eyes, she added, “I’m a big girl, Kara, mom knows I have sex. Ruby’s a teenager and if she’s watching after seeing the title…” She turned to the camera, “Well, that’s on you, kid.”

“I can’t believe Sam’s letting you do this.”

“She understands the importance of people knowing.” Then she shifted towards the camera again. “As I was saying... if they sent us here without men so we wouldn’t have sex, I’m sorry to let them know that we did. It’s not easy to be comfortable and enjoy it. And even when you figure out how, you get tired pretty quickly.”

“Oh my God, _that’s_ why you’re recording this? Because of all those headlines and questions?”

Alex smirked. “Nah, why would I want to do that after all the queerphobic, homoerasing, and misogynistic bullshit we had to deal with?”

“Yeah, okay, I get it. But you know the six of us are here because we were the best of them. They just needed an excuse so men everywhere wouldn’t whine too much about it.”

“The fact that they even needed an excuse, I swear to God…”

“I know. Also, as bad as that was, it was about the baby-making thing, not the sex, anyway.”

“Yeah but people, even other reporters, don’t read more than the headlines these days. In any case, now they know the truth thanks to you. You heard it here first, folks, we’re the best crew… if you hadn’t figured that out already.”

“Wait, Alex, you’re not going to edit this out?”

“Not even one single second.”

Alex wasn’t having nightmares about Mars anymore, now they were about her being too late to save Kara. Her little sister floating away into space or dying in different ways. She hated them. She hated that the bigger risk was still to come. 

So she hugged Kara every chance she got. Like right then and there, before ending the video, for everyone to see. For her to have forever. “I love you, sis.”

“I love you too, Alex.” Kara didn’t know about her nightmares, but she didn’t have to. She was always ready for her anyway. Ready for her embrace, ready to say those words, ready to remind Alex that she was still with her. She figured that Kara probably had gone through something similar after almost losing Alex on Mars.

She uploaded the video and went back to Sam. While she talked about Lena and Nia’s newest invention to make the landing a bit safer, Alex stroked her hair and had hope for the first time that they could make it back to Earth, back to Ruby and her mom. Back to a normal life with normal nightmares. And she could not wait.

**61 days to Earth**

The darkness of space. Maybe that should be the title of the book Nia was writing with Kara.

Everything was so dark, even when it wasn’t. Dark didn’t _have_ to mean something negative, and they could help shine a light on it — see what she did there?

The book would have some angsty elements, of course. Nia’s time at the dust storm was not something she was going to ever forget, even if her own nightmares had stopped. But still, looking at the window was mesmerizing and people should know this darkness could make you feel empty and small, while also powerful and alive.

She missed Brainy. She mostly wished he was there with her. She wanted to travel the whole universe with him. Though sometimes she just wanted to be with him, even if it was on Earth. She really missed him. And having two couples that constantly acted like newlyweds on the ship was making it worse.

She thanked the Gays for Maggie Sawyer. They had fun making videos doing silly things with no gravity. They loved to tease the other women, making memes and stuff.

This time, Maggie had turned on the camera in the dining area. So when Nia heard Kara scream, she laughed before going there, just to get it out of her system.

“What happened?” Her acting was flawless.

“How come there’s no more potstickers?!” Kara ate potstickers once a week, they were her make-or-break deal for going to space.

“I’m guessing we ate them all?”

“But we have two more months left! There were still a lot of them last week!”

Lena entered and immediately went to Kara. “Hey, what is it?”

“Someone ate all the potstickers, Lena!”

Nia could not believe the pout, the puppy eyes... This was gold.

“I’m sure there’s more—”

“I ate the last one last night.” Maggie interrupted and Nia was once again, grateful for her. If Lena called Kara ‘love’ they wouldn’t be able to upload this gem. They wanted to have some fun but would never out their friends, even if everyone on Earth was already talking about how in love they seemed to be. 

“You did what?!” 

“Kara…”

“No, Maggie, how could you? How many did you eat? I know you never liked me that much, but this is low.”

“What? Of course I like you, you idiot!”

Nia didn’t know if she wanted to laugh at the whole situation or cry because it had backfired a little with Kara stating something she’d been thinking since they met. They’d always seemed to be at odds with each other because they both wanted Alex’s happiness and protection, but they had very different ways of going about it.

“Whatever, is the rest of the food enough for the whole trip?”

Maggie got closer to her, placed a hand on her shoulder. “Kara, listen to me. I love you. I like you enough to put a prank on you, okay? The potstickers are hidden somewhere in the ship. Before you get mad at me, though, this was mostly Nia’s idea.”

“Oh my God! Are they really hidden or is this really the prank and there are no more potstickers?”

Maggie and Nia couldn’t hold it any longer, they burst out laughing at that. “They’re hidden, you dork! There were like a hundred left!”

Kara’s wide smile was a weird thing to witness right after seeing her ready to punch someone, it was like she was two very different people. She left to find the potstickers as though it was a game, happily asking them for clues as to where they were.

This was definitely going to the book, along with the heart-to-heart she had with Maggie later, but Kara would have to write that one.

**42 days to Earth**

Lena woke up with Kara’s body pressed to her, which was probably the best feeling in the world.

She couldn’t believe this was her life. Kara loved her. Her mother was finally beginning to act like a mom. She went to Mars with her chosen family and the love of her life.

All they had to do now was survive the landing. So she kissed Kara’s cheek and left the sleeping bag. They were all working very hard, Lena was just used to working harder.

She wasn’t expecting to see Sam in the lab already.

“Finally, Luthor, I thought I had to go wake you.” 

“Did we have plans?”

“No, I just know you and wanted to talk to you before the rest of them woke up.”

“Sounds serious. What’s up?”

“I know it might be a bit soon, but my anniversary with Alex is coming up and I want to propose.”

“Oh my God, Sam! That’s amazing!”

“So you don’t think I’m crazy?”

“Of course not! You’ve known each other for way too many years, you love each other, Alex and Ruby already act like mother and daughter…”

Sam’s shy smile told Lena she already knew all that. “I just wanted to propose here because this was where it started, you know?”

“I know, and it’s a great idea. Tell me what you need me to do.”

Lena could pause work for a few hours if it meant helping her friend plan her wedding proposal. 

**21 days to Earth**

Lena had sent Alex and Nia to do a spacewalk to install one last thing.

Once back on the ship, Alex got immediately worried. “What happened?”

“Nothing, we just turned off the lights, Danvers. Get changed and meet us in the pods area.”

Alex knew Lena was up to something.

The path there was illuminated with little warm lights. Sam was waiting for her near a window. Alex melted at the sight.

“We waited until we could see the Earth from here, small as it is. Happy anniversary!”

Alex floated to her and kissed her. “Happy anniversary.”

“I love you, Alex. This past year has been amazing. Not because of this mission, because of you. And I couldn't get you anything here so I asked Ruby to buy you something.” She gestured for Alex to turn around.

Maggie and Nia were behind Kara. Lena was next to her with a laptop opened, showing Alex the screen. She could see Eliza in the background but Ruby's face filled most of the screen.

“Hi Alex! Mom and I just wanted you to know that we love you and…” Ruby stood up and took a few steps back. Then she got on one knee and opened a small box. “Will you please marry her and officially become my other mom?”

Alex had her eyes full of tears, she faced Sam who was suddenly right beside her, taking her hand.

“I know it’s soon, it doesn't have to be right away, but will you? Marry me?” She asked, handing her a towel so she could get rid of the balls of water on her face.

“Of course I'll marry you.” She turned to the laptop then. “I'll be honored to be your other mom.”

They were too busy kissing to see Eliza and Ruby hug after the teenager's delighted squeal. Too busy to notice the other four women floating towards them with similar excitement, until they were all hugging them.

**20 days to Earth**

“How the hell does someone hack a spaceship?! And from prison!” After a few seconds of listening to Houston’s response Alex was yelling again, “What do you mean he's not in prison anymore?!”

They kept talking and Alex didn’t really want to hear it. “I will not calm—” She swallowed her words the moment she saw Lena looking her way. She’d never seen her so terrified. She hung up. Commander Alex Danvers — perfect astronaut, first person on Mars — hung up on Houston. “Lena…”

“How bad is it, Alex?”

“Most of our systems are compromised.”

“Fucking Lex!”

Alex pulled Lena towards her before the woman started literally spiralling out of control. “Look at me, we need you. We have Winn and Brainy trying to create some other secure line that can connect with everything else, we’ll have Maggie and Kara working with them but we can’t do this without you.”

“I won’t let him get away with this.”

“That’s the spirit.”

\---

They were finishing telling the rest of them the news when a voice came from every sound system in the ship. “Hello, sis. Ladies. How’s everything going?” they could hear him smiling.

It made Lena feel sick. “What do you want?”

“Always so serious… Okay, if you want to get straight to business we can do that. You’re going to do exactly as I said or I’ll shut down everything that’s keeping you alive out there.”

“I don’t know what you’re playing at, Lex, but if you want to kill me just find some other way. You don’t need to hurt them too.”

“But this isn’t just about you. I couldn't stop a bunch of _women_ from being the first humans on Mars — thanks to our mother — but I can still make sure you’re not the first to come back from it.”

Kara was fuming. “She’s your sister! I’m sure some part of you still loves her. Remember the little girl you taught how to play chess? The girl you protected against your own parents? The only woman on Earth who believed in you as a person and not in whatever genius potential you had? Is that really the person you want to kill?”

“Lovely speech, Supergirl. I guess the rumors are true, then? You’re banging my sister? I—”

“Shut up, Lex!” If Lena could take Kara away from there, she would.

“Oh no, that’s right, she’s the asexual one, right? How do you do it, Lena? How long until you need to have someone who can satisfy you in your bed?”

“That’s enough!” Lena didn’t know who that man was, indeed it was Lex, but it certainly wasn’t her brother anymore.

“You’re right. Let’s talk about what you’re going to do for me—”

“I cut the line. All comms are off.”

Lena sighed, she could breathe again. “Thank you, Sam.”

“Wait, what if he just shuts everything off?” Nia asked, scared.

Alex was the one to answer, “He won’t. He clearly was talking just as a distraction, which tells us that he couldn’t really get to that part of the system yet.”

“You’re right, I should’ve known…”

Kara took her hand. “Hey, Lena, no... none of this is on you and he clearly can’t do anything yet so that means we have work to do.”

And work they did. Winn finally came through another line and they worked together, Lena helping by thinking a few steps ahead of Lex, as per usual.

They were waiting for Houston’s confirmation that the connection had been reestablished with all the new encryptions.

Kara was glad when she finally had a few minutes of peace with her girlfriend. “Hey, Lena? Umm, what Lex said… I know how you feel about that, and I know this isn’t the best time. But we said we weren’t going to keep these things to ourselves and I was wondering if maybe you—”

Lena took Kara’s hands. “No, don’t. That’s the way he is, okay? He’s manipulative, he gets in your head. Forget about what he said and just tell me: Did I ever make you feel like that’s an issue for me?”

“Of course not, Lena! You’ve been amazing, you’re the best girlfriend I could’ve asked for. I know you wouldn’t—” 

Kara was getting riled up again. But as much as Lena loved that about her, she also needed to soothe her. She gently stroked Kara’s cheek with one hand while pulling her closer with the other. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to defend me from myself.” She chuckled before getting serious again. “I’m fine, love. Actually, no, not just fine. _You_ make me _happy_ , Kara. I love you.”

Kara’s expression changed from worry to cheery and teary-eyed. “You make me happy too.”

“Good.” Lena gave her a quick kiss. “And thank you for telling me. I’ll gladly remind you all of this as many times as you need because I love you.” Another kiss. “I love you.” 

Kara floated even closer and let Lena hold her tight, leaving no space between them. “I love you more.”

“Not possible.”

“It’s tot—”

“Stop this madness, this is worse than a solar flare.” Nia was suddenly there, dramatically covering her eyes and pretending to be disgusted. Also reminding them the day wasn’t quite finished yet.

It worked out in the end. It was a close call, but they managed to succeed in the end. It took the FBI three more hours to find Lex. He was finally going to a special cell he wouldn’t be able to get out of.

Kara never left Lena’s side. “Are you okay?”

“No.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Stay with me.”

“Always.”

Kara gave Lena a slow, meaningful kiss and hugged her tight. She wasn’t planning on ever letting her go.

**T-minus 30 minutes to land on Earth**

Kara was as hopeful as ever. They'd worked hard, they had gotten this far. There was no way they were going to die on reentry.

Still, tension was running high the last couple of days. They had done all they could, now it wasn’t up to them anymore. It was scary.

The whole world was watching. Their loved ones were watching. They could be watching them burn.

They’d detached the control capsule from the rest of the ship. Everything was going according to plan and they made sure Lex and his minions were extra guarded.

Lena was doing much better, having Kara and the rest of them by her side truly helped a lot.

Time passed, they were watching the clocks. But it felt different, they weren't as aware as they'd always been, they couldn't think of doing anything else other than hope and pray they'd be safe soon.

This was it. They were entering the atmosphere.

Literally the whole world was holding their breath. The six of them included.

It was shaky and hot, and it was a long journey down for them. It was a lot shorter for most of the people on the ground.

And then they were surrounded by water.

They'd done it.

They were back home.

**1 year on Earth**

Nia and Kara's book came out a few weeks before and it was an instant bestseller — Nia tried to call it _‘Six Useless Queer Women go to Mars.’_ but the publisher didn't let her. Lena and her mom were closer than ever. It had been a shock for them to learn that Eliza and Lillian had become friends while they were on Mars. Maggie had been dating Vasquez for the last six months. And Alex and Sam's wedding had been three months ago, a lovely intimate event with their family and friends.

They were all _happy_.

They were still working at NASA, Maggie and Nia still being astronauts, while the other four decided to stay grounded.

Kara and Lena had been living together since the moment they came back.

And that night, when Kara walked into their room, she found Lena contemplating the Moon through the window. That was still her favorite Lena. It didn't matter if she was looking at the stars, Earth, Mars, the Moon, a sunset or the blackness of space. It was Lena who made that sight utterly stunning to Kara.

“Marry me.” It wasn't planned, she didn't have a ring or anything, she just saw her sitting there and knew she needed to see that for the rest of her life. It just came out. And it had been the best impulsive decision Kara had ever made.

Lena’s head basically whiplashed towards her. She met her eyes, needing to see the sincerity behind them, behind the statement.

“Marry me... please?” Kara repeated as she moved closer, she sounded more firm now, but at least she managed to make it seem a bit less like a demand.

Lena's smile was everything Kara was going to remember about this moment. “I'm still not sure that was a question but the answer is yes anyway.”

They were in each other's arms and lips in a second. 

\---

On their wedding day, Sam and Alex surprised them with a big framed photo they’d never seen before — Sam had taken it without them knowing: it was Kara and Lena, from a distance, sitting on their rock on Mars and kissing for the first time, with the sun setting behind them.


End file.
